Heaven Help Us
by MissHaunted-MoonLight
Summary: Chris is alone and close to breaking. But after a demon attacks, leaving him fatally wounded, it’s down to the Sisters to save him. Can they overcome their anger and distrust for the Whitelighter from the future? Or will they abandon him?
1. Chapter 1

**Heaven Help Us  
By  
****xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**

**----------------------**

**Summary: Chris is alone and close to breaking. But after a demon attacks, leaving him fatally wounded, it's down to the Sisters to save him. Can they overcome their anger and distrust for the Whitelighter from the future? Or will they abandon him?**

**Post-'_Prince Charmed_', so Leo trusts Chris … sorta, but the Sisters don't.**

**----------------------**

**Inspired by My Chemical Romance's '_Heaven Help Us_', this is a bit of a one-off fic, its sole purpose being to calm my nerves during Exam week. Huh, I needed a break from revision, so sue me.**

**Ahem, actually, scratch that. Please _don't_ sue me, as I confess I do not own Charmed, its settings, scripts or characters or _anything_ at all to do with the show. I'd love to own Chris, though …**

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

**_You don't know a thing about my sins,  
How the misery begins.  
You don't know,  
So I'm burning, I'm burning._**

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

Chris sighed, defeated, abandoning his place beside the Book of Shadows for fear of losing what was left of his sanity. Rubbing his temples, he sank to the floor and sat, cross-legged, glaring at the family heirloom as though the World's problems were entirely its fault.

It was useless. He knew the damn thing by heart, anyway.

And, seriously, who was he trying to kid? It wasn't as though any of his 'leads' so far had aided, even _remotely_, in solving the ongoing mystery of who had turned his brother.

So, what was the point?

What the Hell was the freaking point?

Footsteps from below him pulled the Witchlighter from his spiralling thoughts with a start. Someone was walking towards the staircase. And Chris, knowing his mother's footsteps almost as well as he knew the back of his own hand, was pretty sure he could venture a guess at who's face he was about to see if he didn't get out of there, quickly.

Neither mentally nor physically up to another shouting match with 'Piper', Chris let loose a quivering sigh, his eyes welling with unshed tears, before he orbed away, his orb-trail vanishing from sight just as the doorknob turned.

The only indication of his presence inside Halliwell Manor, as Piper Halliwell stepped over the threshold, was the single, solitary tear that plummeted to the ground, splashing into oblivion as it collided with the wooden panels beneath her feet.

Gone, in a matter of seconds. Almost as though it'd never existed.

The attic was eerily silent, now.

Piper shook her head in dismay. Turning to leave, she sighed heavily, determined to question the kid sooner or later. He wasn't going to get away with dropping a bombshell like _that_ about her shoulders without an explanation. If he was going to tell her that her son, - her innocent little baby boy, the ultimate image of flawless beauty and truth, - was going to grow up to be a mass murderer who ruled the World with an iron fist, he, at the _very_ least, had to justify his claims.

And yet, she mused sadly, as the door clicked shut behind her, she wasn't really sure if she could even bring herself to trust him, anymore.

How could she believe him after all of the lies?

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

_**Later That Night …**_

The moon was laughing at him.

He could hear the mocking chuckles of the gently swirling wind, hear the distorted rustles of the amused Autumn leaves, hear his heart beating out a bass accompaniment against his chest. But the moon …

She was so bright. So full. A beacon of whiteness amidst a black and velvet night; her magical, ethereal glow disturbed every now and again by a passing wisp of cloud. So bright. So full. So _beautiful_.

And yet, she was laughing at him. She mocked the lone figure - with his torn shirt, profusely bleeding wounds and white, glistening skin - who was struggling to remain upright as he shuffled noiselessly towards Prescott Street. She twinkled with amusement, winking contentedly as the figure finally fell to his knees, exhausted, weak and shivering violently, the quiet stillness, save Mother Nature's private chorus, frequently disturbed by low, rasping breaths.

He was too far away. Too many streets stood between him and number 1329. His home. Or at least, his _old_ home. He didn't belong there, anymore. He didn't belong _anywhere_, anymore.

Cold. So, so cold.

He was too weak to orb. Too weak to even raise his head. But he had to try.

The wind suddenly picked up, its wickedly biting chill tearing into exposed flesh. Fallen leaves fluttered down around his head, teasing but never quite touching.

While the moon merely quivered expectantly, hanging high from her lofty perch.

Silently watching …

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

Halliwell Manor was quiet.

Prescott Street's inhabitants were ecstatic about that, though also admittedly suspicious. The large and attractive red house standing proud in the centre of the street was not usually known for its stillness. The three Halliwell Sisters were unmistakably odd, everyone had agreed on that. So it was only fitting that they lived in an 'odd' house.

Bangs and clatters were nearly always echoing out from within The Manor's scarlet walls, often loud enough to be mistaken for an explosion of some sort. Many of the neighbours had wondered time and again if there wasn't some extensive building work going on, something that had taken just short of seven years to finish, but no vans or lorries or trucks or _anything_ ever stopped in front of the house to signify such rigorous decorating. And still the noises came. Often from the top floor, funnily enough; the Attic seemed to be used more than the rest of the house put together, most of the time. Which was 'odd' in itself. No-one _ever_ uses their Attic, except for storage. Alright, maybe as a converted bedroom every once in a while, but did the Sisters not have enough bedrooms, already? A three storey house … no, they certainly had more than enough.

So, what was all the noise about?

Prescott Street certainly had fun speculating about _that_.

And yet, here it was. Midnight chimed the arrival of the 'Witching Hour', and the majestic home was shrouded in silence, only one golden square of light visible, filtering out over the lawn from the conservatory. The two younger sisters had moved out, or so their neighbours had been told. Maybe _that_ was why it was so quiet, these days.

But curious or not, Prescott Street intended to take full advantage of the calm. Who knew how long it would be before another miniature earthquake rocked the foundations of the weird, crimson house?

Safely hidden away within their untroubled sleeps, the street's residents remained pleasantly oblivious to the scattering of blue and white lights, which hesitantly, _sluggishly_ coalesced into a young man, hunched over and shaking tremendously in the middle of the road.

Directly in front of the 'odd' house.

But the brown-haired, green-eyed youth wasn't on his feet for long. Barely two seconds passed by before his trembling form crumpled to a heap on the ground, body failing due to an unbalanced but forceful combination of pain, blood-loss, fear and exhaustion.

If only the sleeping citizens of Prescott Street had noticed him. Perhaps the Halliwell Sisters and their mysterious red house wouldn't have seemed so 'odd', anymore.

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

**A/N: **Uhuh, just a li'l teaser chapter, this one. But the rest being uploaded depends on _you_ guys.  
What d'ya think? Continue or No Continue?  
Please review and let me know if I'd be wasting my time.

**Hugs,  
****xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**


	2. Chapter 2

**Heaven Help Us  
By  
****xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**

**----------------------**

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing.

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

_**You don't know a thing about my sins,  
How the misery begins.  
You don't know,  
So I'm burning, I'm burning.**_

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

Midnight had been and gone.

Piper sighed, happily, her hands wrapped securely around a steaming mug of coffee as she stared into space, snuggled comfortably into the sofa in the conservatory.

So that was it, for another year. Her birthday was now, officially, over.

Phoebe and Paige had departed for their respective 'spouses' a few minutes ago; Paige making a hasty departure as her fear for Richard's wellbeing overwhelmed her, and Phoebe reluctantly tagging along, if only for an orb to Hong Kong.

Wyatt was away in Dream-land, exhausted after the day's excitement. Piper envied her son for that. It was so easy for him to forget about everything and just sleep, without a care in the world.

David had gone _poof_, already, so he was gone, too. She still felt slightly guilty about that, but was grateful to her sisters for 'making' him. And … in all honesty, Piper agreed with them. They were right. Giving up on Love was just … well, out of the question.

Leo was still 'Up There', but as she sat, absently contemplating her mother's charm bracelet, a bright smile lighting up her features, she decided that her resentment towards him had considerably diminished.

How the Hell had he found it?

No, she didn't care, really. All that mattered was that he _had_. He'd found it for her.

And she loved him for it.

But … what now?

Her smile quickly faded.

It was midnight. She was alone. And with so much to think about, she couldn't sleep.

Only now could she properly consider the unwanted secret that her Whitelighter had recently revealed to her.  
_  
That_ was a birthday present she had never wished for. Sure, she'd wanted information. But not the kind she received.

Her son was evil in the future.

She didn't want to believe it. And had she not seen Chris in the attic, moments ago, fighting tears, she wouldn't have even spared it another thought.

But he'd been crying.

Chris _never_ cried.

And to Piper, those tears were honest. They spoke the truth, more than the Witchlighter ever could, himself. They verified that Wyatt was, indeed, the evil that Chris had come to the past to stop.

And that knowledge broke her heart.

How could she let it get that far? Was she really such a terrible mother? _Surely_ she should have noticed _something_, and she knew that if she _had_ noticed, she'd have done everything within her power to prevent Wyatt from turning.

But apparently, she _didn't_ notice. She _hadn't_ prevented it.

And Chris had had no choice but to return to the very beginning. He'd abandoned his friends and family in the future, if indeed he'd even had any, to travel through time, just to save her son.

And _that_, in turn, had unearthed yet another question of its own.

Why _Chris_?

Were he and Wyatt allies? Acquaintances? Enemies? Friends? _Lovers_?

Piper shook her head in denial at that last thought. Chris was engaged to Bianca. Or at least, he _had_ been engaged to Bianca. Piper wasn't certain, but she was willing to bet her left arm, complete with newly discovered charm bracelet, that when Bianca had left her mother's house for the future, her life had been tragically torn away not long after.

Tears welled within her sparkling, auburn eyes, piercing, stinging, as she wondered if Bianca's death was really her baby's fault. Had Wyatt ripped apart a young and blossoming love, just because his '_friend_?' had tried to save him?

No, she couldn't handle that. She dearly wanted to forget everything Chris had claimed. To push it from existence, and pretend he'd never said anything.

But she simply couldn't.

Wyatt couldn't be evil. He _couldn't _be!

But … Chris _… the tears_ …

She needed to talk to him. Now. She _had_ to know, once and for all, just how truthful the Witchlighter was being. Deep down, a part of her _knew_ he wasn't lying about Wyatt, but her motherly instincts overruled her head. As a mother, she simply could not imagine her son fighting against everything that their family had fought and died for.

Her mind made up, Piper jumped to her feet, mug still in hand, and made for the staircase, never one to waste time. A small hint of anxiousness thriving within her chest at the thought of her hopes being crushed to dust, Piper hurried up to the attic, grabbing five large white candles as she passed the table and replacing them with the empty mug, and arranging them on the floor. Sighing, she knelt down and lit them, one by one.

Satisfied, she headed straight for the Book of Shadows, thumbing absent-mindedly through the worn, aged pages. Calling his name would do no good. He was avoiding them, so he wouldn't answer her.

No, she'd have to be smarter than that.

Her eyes brightened slightly as she found the page she had been looking for.

The Summoning Spell.

_Perfect_.

It was time she gave her Whitelighter a chance to prove his honesty. If only to settle her own mind.

It was time she received some answers.

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

Struggling to maintain a firm grip on consciousness, Chris forced his lungs to draw in a much needed supply of oxygen.

Everything hurt. His body hurt so, so much.

And why was he so cold?

What had happened to him?

Where was he?

_Who_ was he ??!

His mind was numb. He just wanted to sleep. The cold, hard concrete beneath him was as good a place as any to rest, wasn't it?

'_No, of course it's not_!' he tried to argue, but his body just wasn't listening to him, anymore. It couldn't handle the strain, the stress, the pain, the ache, the _cold_. Why the Hell was it so cold???

The House was feet away from him.

But those few feet seemed like miles. He couldn't do it. He just _couldn't_ do it.

And even if he could, what good would getting inside do him, anyway? Piper hated him! She wouldn't help, no way. And, deep down, a part of him didn't disagree with her. He'd really screwed things up.

Hell, maybe this was justice. Maybe he was finally paying for everything he'd done in the past. Maybe it really was _his time_, this time.

'_But what about Wyatt_?'

No, the Sisters knew about it, now. They could handle it, themselves. And, honestly, what help was he being? He knew no more than they did, for crying out loud! They didn't need him. He'd warned them about the threat, now. Maybe that was enough.

'_But they don't believe you!_'

Chris prayed to the Heavens that _that_ wasn't true. Because if they _didn't_ believe him_ … _if they didn't take him seriously, he was going to die for nothing. The future wouldn't change.

And that would be his fault. And his fault alone.

He should have told them. Everything.

He should have confessed everything the moment he'd given them his name. He should have told them the truth from the off. Why did he stop after 'Chris Perry'? Only _one_ more word, one more name, and everything would have been out in the open!

'_Chris Perry Halliwell_'!

Oh, why the Hell had he been so stupid ??!

No, they wouldn't have believed him if he'd told them the truth, anyway, would they? How ridiculous would it sound? 'Hi, I'm your unborn son from the future, and I came back to save my brother from becoming the next Source of All Evil. How's it going? What's for lunch?'

Even in his head the words sounded absurd. Piper would have blown his ass back to the future before he'd even finished the sentence.

Nevertheless, he still couldn't believe how badly he wished _now_ that he could confess everything. He didn't want to go knowing that they didn't understand.

He was going to die alone.

He was going to die a stranger, a nuisance. He wouldn't be missed. At most the Sisters would regret his death, and move on. They wouldn't grieve, not as they would for a son. Because, to them, _he wasn't_ their son. Yeah, he was _someone's_, but he wasn't _theirs_.

And, worst of all, he was going to die with Piper still hating him.

His mother hated him, and he could do nothing, _nothing_ at all to change that.

He'd let her down. And that was killing him more than his wounds were.

He'd let her down, and she hated him.

Chris couldn't handle that.

But it was too late, now.

It was over.

'_I don't want to die alone!_'

The pain was unbearable. The cold was biting, worming its way under his skin, freezing his very soul. His eyelids were far too heavy, and despite his best efforts to keep them open, they fluttered shut, anyway.

The ground beneath him was swaying like the deck of a ship, leaving an increasing feeling of nausea to rise up his throat.

Or was that blood? The irony taste within his mouth, choking him, strongly suggested that the sticky substance was, in fact, the cause of his inability to breathe properly.

His head was spinning, the pain numbing his thoughts until they were little more than a hazy mist.

Chris didn't want things to end as they were. There were so many things he regretted!

But he could do nothing about them, now.

It was too late.

Almost detached completely from his aching, failing body, Chris vaguely panicked as he felt a strange, unwelcome sensation overcome him. It felt like he was flying. Bright, shining lights illuminated the back of his eyelids, and the ground vanished from beneath his bleeding body.

The last thing his pain-racked mind could register before his body gave up completely was a startled, high-pitched scream.

His mother's scream.

Then, the blackness consumed him.

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

Paige sighed in frustration as she reached over Richard's prone form, her hands scrambling around in the dark for her cell phone, no longer able to ignore the incessant ringing.

Richard grunted, but remained otherwise oblivious to the annoying sound. Paige was faintly irritated by that. The guy could probably sleep through an earthquake without so much as breathing irrationally. What she wouldn't give to have skills like that!

A frown on her face, Paige's irritation soon evaporated as the contact name grabbed her attention.

Piper was calling her.

In the middle of the night.

So, something wasn't good.

"Hey, Piper. What's up?" she whispered, abandoning the warmth and comfort of her bed and hurrying into the bathroom, so as not to disturb her oblivious partner.

"It's Chris," came the somewhat horrified reply. Piper's voice seemed a little higher than usual. Which quickly increased Paige's worry.

"What about him?" she asked, slowly, wondering if she even wanted to know.

"He's hurt! Bad. I need you to grab Phoebe and come home, right away!"

"Whoa, hold up, hurt how? What's he done?"

"Well, how the Hell should I know ?!" Piper demanded, angrily. "I'm not his baby-sitter! And he's not exactly up for explaining his condition, right now!"

Paige's worry increased ten-fold. If Piper was panicking, things must have been bad. She nodded in reassurance, but the oldest Charmed One couldn't know that.

"Right. 'Kay, we'll be there in thirty seconds. Let me just get dressed and grab Phoebe," she stated, hurriedly.

"Don't be long, Paige. He's not lookin' real good," Piper pleaded, and Paige was quite surprised to hear a small amount of guilt within her voice. What did Piper have to be guilty about?

"See you in a minute," Paige reassured her, deciding to question her sister's feelings when they could actually talk face-to-face, and she put the phone down. Sighing heavily, she hurried back into the bedroom, grabbed her shirt and a pair of faded jeans from the wardrobe, and orbed away, still buttoning herself up.

"Here we go again," she found herself murmuring to thin air, as her orb trail vanished from sight.

Richard merely grunted in reply and turned over, an unconscious smile illuminating his features as he snuggled deeper into the quilt, his face falling once again into shadow as the bright bluish-white lights disappeared from existence.

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

"_Leo_!"

Piper sighed, frustrated, as her ex-husband's reassuring orb trail once again failed to manifest itself in front of her.

Why wasn't he answering her calls?

Giving up for fear of saying something she might later regret, Piper exhaled sharply, shaking her head and reaching out a trembling hand to the unconscious form on the Attic floor.

But her hand soon withdrew again as her senses realised just how cold Chris really was. The violent shivering should have been enough to give it away, but her sudden and unexplainable desire to comfort the kid made her discover it for herself.

His skin was ice-cold to the touch.

The fatal-looking stab wounds that appeared to litter his entire body like gleaming red scars were oozing out scarlet blood, that was quickly soaking through his clothing and pooling around him on the polished wooden floorboards.

A blood-bath. Almost literally.

His skin was paper-white, and dark circles stood out like beacons against the starkness of his gaunt features.

Piper shivered involuntarily.

Why was she suddenly feeling so guilty?

Wasn't it just this morning that she'd said she never wanted to see him again? Her exclamation had been an adamant one, too. She'd meant every word.

So why was she suddenly wishing beyond all hope that she could take it back, to tell him to his face that she was sorry and that she hadn't meant to say what she'd said?

What the Hell was wrong with her?

She _hated_ him!

…

No, she didn't.

It wasn't true, she realised. She'd thought she hated him. She was furious with the kid for lying, for manipulating them, but she'd never _really_ hated him. That word was too strong. Anger and hate were funny words, one often being mistaken for the other.

She'd thought she hated him. But she simply couldn't. She was angry with him. And with good reason. He'd done some pretty questionable things during his months in the Past.

But for some reason, she just could not bring herself to hate the kid.

Kid …

Oh, God. He was.

It hit her with the force of a speeding train.

With an audible gasp, she drank in his every feature, finally realising just how _young_ he was. She'd never really thought about it, before. But his youth shone through, now. Glaring at her. Dragging along with it a look of innocence and vulnerability, as he lay there, motionless.

_But why did she care_ ??!

This was all backwards!

The feelings were scaring her. Why should she care so much about him? Sure, he was their Whitelighter, but that was it. It wasn't like they were related. She liked him … well, sort of, when he wasn't lying through his teeth and berating them for not taking the 'threats against Wyatt' seriously.

Or _did_ she?

The kid was annoying, neurotic enough to crack any therapist, blunt, rude, obsessive, defensive, inconsiderate, manipulative …

So why _did_ she like him, exactly?

She just _couldn't_ understand it!

Was it the fact that he'd risked his life to save her son? Was _that_ why she couldn't bring herself to hate him?

She didn't have a clue. But it was scaring the Hell out of her!

And hate him or not, she couldn't bare to see him in such a state. Prepared for the coldness, this time, she replaced her hand on Chris' shoulder and squeezed it gently, vaguely wondering if she could coax him back to reality, somehow.

Telling herself that she was only helping him to get answers out of him, she quickly banished all other thoughts and raised her head, once more, intending to call for Leo, again.

But a flurry of blue and white lights on the other side of the room bound her tongue.

Paige and Phoebe's blurry forms quickly solidified as their scattered orbs rejoined, and Piper let loose a sigh of relief.

"Oh, my God," Phoebe whispered, as her eyes fell upon the immobile being before her. Her sister was by his side, a shaking hand just grazing Chris' shoulder, almost comfortingly. "Piper, what happened?" she asked, quietly, following Paige towards them and crouching at Chris' other side.

"I don't know," Piper replied, sadly, still unable to withdraw the hand from the boy's shoulder. It seemed glued to him. "I wanted to find out what was going on. I wanted answers! I mean, if he's going to tell me that my son's evil, I at least deserve to know the details. So I went to summon him, only this is how he turned up. I dunno what's happened, but I can't wake him up."

Piper was as surprised as her sisters to hear the hint of desperation behind her words.

There it was again.

That feeling.

The one she just couldn't make head nor tail of.

The one that told her to care for the kid. To love him.

To save him.

She ignored it.

"Have you called for Leo?" Paige asked, taking charge.

Piper raised her eyebrows, faintly insulted.

"Well, what do _you_ think?" she asked, sarcastically. Paige, at least, had the decency to blush and nod, her eyes downcast.

"Right," she murmured, shrugging guiltily. Piper sighed, heavily, and let her eyes travel back to the unmoving being beneath her.

"I've called for him, but he's not answering me. So, I guess we're on our own with this one."

Regretfully, her sisters nodded in agreement.

Curious, Paige suddenly jumped to her feet and made straight for the Book of Shadows, hoping to find something to help within their priceless family heirloom.

Phoebe, on the other hand, imitated her sister's movements and made for the stairs, instead.

"Where are you going?" Piper asked, an intense feeling of anxiousness messing about with her mind. Her senses were working overtime, and it was all Chris' fault. She couldn't fathom out how, but he'd really gotten to her. Unable to understand why, she soon realised she was determined to save him.

"To the kitchen," was the cryptic response she received.

And, then, Phoebe was gone.

Piper and Paige shared a look, unsure of what to make of the advice columnist's hasty departure. Shrugging, Paige returned to the Book, flicking through its pages with renewed vigour.

Piper, not as easily distracted, made to follow Phoebe, her own curiosity peaking.

But a soft, pain-filled, almost inaudible moan halted her, mid-movement.

Silence fell over the Attic like a shroud, as two pairs of startled eyes darted to the prone figure on the floor.

Chris was stirring.

**----------------------**

**Thanks to **Amantine, Lady Gallatea Ravenclaw, foxfieldco, Bianka, Love Angel 1705, DemonessLeader, Cassie, Joralie, sp, Laurie, sailor cyanide, serendipity-surprise, rozzy07, Pandora of Ithilien, shadowhisper, santanaann, angelbird12241, rachel.m.g, **and** Fhulhi the Crazy **for reviewing last chapter!**

**Wow, I'm gobsmacked! Never in my life have I had a single chapter receive so many reviews! So thank you so much! 19! Wow! Amazing!**

**Please continue to review! It really does motivate a writer! Honest!**

**Huge hugs,  
****xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**


	3. Chapter 3

**Heaven Help Us  
By  
****xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**

**----------------------**

**Disclaimer: **I _still _own nothing.

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

_**You don't know a thing about my sins,  
How the misery begins.  
You don't know,  
So I'm burning, I'm burning.**_

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

Phoebe sighed heavily, roughly shifting tins and jars containing strange herbs and ready-made potions around within the cupboard, as she searched for the one she was looking for.

"Aha, gotcha," she declared triumphantly to the empty kitchen, shivering slightly as her voice reverberated around the room.

The thick and consuming silence was creeping her out.

Too silent.

It seemed almost unnatural, somehow …

Someone was watching her ...

Phoebe mentally berated her mind for wandering at a time like this. Shrugging away her hyperactive conspiracy theories before they could fully manifest themselves, Phoebe withdrew her hand from the cupboard, pulling out with it a small potions bottle, and crossed to the kettle. She flipped the switch, smiling slightly as steam gushed out of the spout.

Grabbing a mug from the draining-board and tipping a tiny amount of the potion into it, she swirled it around lightly with one hand, and added boiling water to the concoction, before inhaling the wafting fumes herself and nodding in satisfaction.

Content, she hurried from the kitchen, flicking the light switch as she departed and stumbling haphazardly towards the staircase, heading for the Attic, once again.

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

Piper waved her arms around energetically, her eyes never wavering from Chris' immobile form, signalling for hush.

But it was pointless.

Paige's tongue was bound as she stared over at them, eyes bright and intently focussed upon the stirring form of her Whitelighter.

Satisfied that no sound could interrupt them, Piper entered 'Mother-mode', gently shaking the shivering shoulder beneath her finger-tips, softly cajoling Chris back into 'life'.

"Chris? Chris, wake up. Come on, open your eyes for me," she pleaded, gently.

The Witchlighter merely shuddered in response, the movement travelling like a shockwave through her own body. A soft but pain-filled moan escaped his chapped, parted lips, and his head shifted desperately to one side before falling back, again.

"Chris? Come on, sweetie, open your eyes," she tried, desperate to bring him back, _somehow_. Her choice of wording startled her slightly, and yet, for some reason, she felt unusually comfortable saying it. It seemed … so _right_ …

Paige found she was faintly amazed by the speed with which Piper had abandoned her previous hatred of their Whitelighter.

'_Sweetie? Since when was he a _sweetie ?!!' she wondered, baffled. A sudden sense of pride and admiration for the oldest Charmed One welled within her chest, allowing a tiny smile to tug teasingly at the corners of her mouth.

Piper really was an incredibly difficult woman to understand. Paige could do nothing but marvel at just what was going on inside her Sister's head, most of the time.

But then, she realised, sadly, at times like this, she wasn't so sure she really wanted to know, anyway.

A creaking floorboard regained her attention and she jumped slightly, trying to unsuccessfully cover it up by moving closer to Piper and Chris. She looked up, curious, and spotted Phoebe crossing the threshold, a steaming mug encased within her outstretched hands.

Paige raised her eyebrows in surprise, her eyes narrowing slightly in confusion as she considered the close-to-overflowing mug.

Spotting the questioning looks flying her way from her youngest sister, Phoebe shook her head, mouthing, 'Later', before hurrying across the Attic and dropping to her knees beside Piper.

"How's he doing?" she asked, slightly breathlessly, placing the mug down carefully and allowing her concerned gaze to fall onto their restless companion.

"Not so sure, yet," Piper admitted, continuing to shake his shoulder, gently but firmly.

"Chris?" Phoebe tried, adding her own comforting voice into the mix.

Surprisingly, Chris appeared to respond, tilting towards her voice, almost obediently. But he still didn't wake. He was restless, definitely stirring. That had to be an improvement, right?

Frustrated, Phoebe sighed, shaking her head, and glanced up at Paige.

"Anything in the Book?" she asked, not exactly optimistic.

Paige shook her head, despondently.

"Nope. Nada. We don't know what's attacked him, so I can't look for that, and those injuries don't exactly narrow it down. _Anyone_ could have done that to him."

"And there's nothing in there that might … I dunno, '_bring him round_'?"

Paige eyed the mug on the floor suspiciously, an eyebrow in serious danger of vanishing beneath her strawberry blonde locks.

"Well, call me crazy, but I presumed that _that_ was what the pick-me-up was for," she confessed, inquisitively. Phoebe half-nodded, and shrugged.

"_Ssshh_!"

Momentarily distracted, Phoebe and Paige jumped a mile as Piper's harsh attempt at silencing their conversation pierced their ears. Faintly irritated by her acidity towards them, they mutely agreed to avoid a confrontation with the Halliwell Matriarch if they could manage it. Though, by no means accepting to drop it, they turned to find the Eldest glaring daggers at them, as she sharply withdrew her hand from the boy's shoulder.

"He's waking up!" she whispered, sharply, returning her gaze to Chris' pain-etched features.

A low groan a moment later effectively proved her statement.

"Piper, I'm dying, not deaf," came a somewhat slurred, hoarse murmur from beneath her. "W-what am I? Four?"

Ever so slowly, the Witchlighter's eyes flickered open to reveal a pair of icy green orbs, hazy with pain but struggling to focus upon their faces, nevertheless.

Piper, at least, had the decency to blush lightly.

"Sorry," she murmured, guiltily.

Chris almost smiled. Almost.

With a groan, he struggled to sit up, rolling over slightly in the process, but a hand forced him back down again, a moment later.

"No, Chris," Piper called, sharply. "You're hurt. Stay there a minute."

Chris rolled his eyes in exasperation, but remained where he was, obediently.

"Chris, what happened?" Paige asked, the Book of Shadows securely wrapped in her arms as she strode across to them and crouched beside him.

Chris' glazed focus shifted to the youngest sister and Paige shivered as she spotted a moment of hesitancy as he practically drank in her every feature, almost as though he was struggling to recognise her.

Relief blossomed as the moment passed, and the strange look of unknowing suspicion left his eyes.

He half-shrugged in response, and winced at the effort, opening his mouth to reply, only to be overcome by violent, racking coughs.

Piper struggled to calm him, while her sisters watched on despairingly as the glinting hints of blood speckled both his chin and the floor beneath him, a tiny droplet slipping over his lower lip.

One drop of red amidst a whiteness human skin should never be.

Piper sighed, relieved, as his breathing evened out somewhat, but was soon undeniably concerned by the drooping eyelids. Not sure how she knew it, she was certain that if his eyes closed, they'd never open up again.

"I … I can't … can't remember … " he murmured, drowsily, finally answering Paige's question verbally and regaining their full attention.

But it wasn't a response they wanted to hear.

And all three Sisters knew that they were running out of time. That _Chris_ was running out of time.

"Chris," Phoebe called, sharply, drawing in the attention of the room's occupants for herself.

With a low moan of pain, Chris forced his eyes fully open again, fighting to keep his wavering gaze steady upon her face.

"Chris, I need you to drink this for me," she said, firmly, indicating the mug beside her. "Help him up a bit," she added to Piper, who nodded and set to lifting the Witchlighter's shoulders a little.

"What is it?" Paige asked, glad her curiosity was about to be quenched.

"Well, Piper's put a new spin on an old idea. She'd probably call it Camomile Tea, but as well as a relaxing agent, there's an energy restoring agent in it."

Paige glanced at the eldest in time to see Piper's eyebrows raise in recognition.

"Oh, yeah, I remember making that," she said, nodding lightly. She eyed the mug's contents for a moment, then returned to raising Chris' head enough for him to be able to drink the stuff.

"I'm right, then?" Phoebe asked, slightly sceptically, unsure of her own idea.

Piper frowned.

"Well, it's been in there a while, but if it looked alright in the bottle, then it should be fine," she assured. "To be honest, I'd completely forgotten we still had that one left over."

Phoebe grinned, brightly.

"Y'see?" she declared, nudging Paige playfully in the ribs. "I told you I was the brains of the family."

Paige snorted derisively and received another nudge, slightly more painful than the first, as a consequence.

Phoebe smiled lightly, but her facial expressions sobered considerably as she reached for the mug, careful not to spill a drop as she passed it across to Piper, who still had one hand supporting Chris' head.

"Here you go, then," Piper murmured, distractedly, taking the cup with her spare hand and holding it to the boy's chapped lips.

For a moment, it looked like Chris was about to knock the boiling mug from Piper's grasp, but instead, he sighed and leaned in to drink, submissively.

Sipping the concoction was the easy part.

Swallowing the stuff was what caused a problem.

Chris fought to force the liquid through his blocked up throat, succeeding eventually and being rewarded with another fit of racking coughs as it trickled teasingly past the rising torrents of blood.

Jamming his eyes shut, he felt his head being gently lowered back onto the wooden panels beneath him, and his body shuddered fitfully as he attempted to pull his breathing back under control.

Soft hands were rubbing soothing circles up and down his arms, coaxing a strange feeling of calmness into existence beneath his wounded skin.

Or was that the potion?

Incredibly relaxed, all of a sudden, Chris forced his lungs to inhale a great, much-needed breath, and silently marvelled at his ability to breathe almost clearly. The coughing ceased, and Chris blinked, the pain of his injuries numbing down to a bit more of a tolerable ache, rather than an unbearable suffering.

Three sighs of relief fluttered into his ears, and Chris glanced up, slowly, an odd mist around the edges clouding his otherwise fairly clear vision.

"Better?" Paige asked, eyes wide with wonder.

Chris half-nodded, the pain only on mute, not disposed of altogether.

"Can you remember anything about what happened?" Piper asked, never one to mince words. Phoebe rolled her eyes, but strained her ears to hear his reply, too.

Chris frowned, then shook his head to one side, feeling a twinge of pain in his neck but ignoring it. He didn't dare himself to speak, even after the potion. His throat was clogged up with blood. Anything could happen if he attempted to unblock it. And he didn't think he could handle another bout of coughing.

"We need Leo," Paige murmured, turning away and rising to her feet. Pretty certain that Chris was, _for now_, out of imminent danger, she abandoned her fruitless search of the Book and carried it back over to its pedestal. Scowling at the ceiling, she nodded to Phoebe mutely and made for the staircase.

Phoebe, taking the hint, nodded back and reached across Chris' somewhat irrationally breathing chest to retrieve the near-empty mug.

"I'll just take this away," she said, hesitantly, before jumping to her feet and hurrying from the room.

Piper stared after them, curiosity welling again, but a low groan from beneath her prevented her from moving after them for the second time in ten minutes.

"What's the matter? What hurts?" she asked, concern evident.

Chris half-smiled.

"My … pride," he choked out, daring himself despite his earlier claims against attempting to use speech.

Surprisingly, _miraculously_, no coughs disturbed the otherwise silent Attic.

Piper chuckled, lightly, still unsure of whether or not she should believe him. But then, it was a bit of a stupid question to begin with. Those wounds were practically screaming, "Ouch!" for themselves.

"Are you _sure_you can't remember anything? _Nothing_ at all? Nothing that could help?" she tried, hopefully.

Chris closed his eyes, fighting to slow his frantically beating heart down a little, and straining his memory for any tiny detail.

But there was nothing.

Three hours ago he'd left the Attic, depressed, frustrated and uncertain.

He'd orbed to the Bridge, hoping to organise his racing thoughts in to some sort of understandable order. He'd needed space.

And he'd found it.

Peace and quiet above the din of the city.

And then Darkness.

Just … _nothing_.

_What the Hell had happened to him_?

"Piper I …" Chris swallowed, his mind racing and his body numb. "I .. I can't remember …"

Piper sighed, sadly, but nodded in acceptance.

However, she couldn't be prepared for the look of pure shock and unadulterated horror that had adorned his features as that lack of memory became apparent, though. She stared at him in astonishment, worried by his sudden stillness.

"Chris, what - ?"

"I c-can't remember _anything_!" he whispered hoarsely, his gaze floating off into the wall behind her, completely flying over her head.

Piper frowned.

"It's fine, Chris, you're just in shock, that's -"

"Th-three h-hours … there's _n-nothing_!"

His emerald orbs snapped back to her face, and Piper gasped, entranced by the look of pure fear that burned within them like fire.

"Wh-what's happened?"

His voice was so low, so hoarse, so _desperate_.

Piper shivered, suddenly feeling desperate, herself; desperate to get away but drawn to his aid, at the same time.

She _wanted _to leave him, to put as much distance between herself and those staring, pleading, _desperate_ eyes as possible.

But she couldn't.

_Why_ couldn't she?

"Chris … don't worry," she murmured, almost on automatic. "We'll figure it out, I promise. We'll sort this out. Everything's gonna be okay, yeah?"

But Chris' eyes held not even the slightest hint of belief in her words. And deep in her heart, Piper didn't believe them, either.

That's all they were, in the end.

Words.

Piper made to stand up, a little guilty about the speed with which she forced herself to her knees, but continuing regardless.

"Look, I'd better go and find Ph -"

"_No_!"

Chris' hand shot out like a bullet and enclosed desperately around her wrist, pulling it back towards him like a safety blanket.

Piper started and stared at him, in amazement.

"No," he whispered, again, quieter, this time, "p-please don't l-leave me!"

It was a plea of extreme anxiety.

It was a plea of fear.

He was terrified of something, and that was scaring the Hell out of her.

Just that morning he'd manipulated them into almost binding her son's powers. He'd tried to convince them that Wyatt would become evil in the future. He'd been secretive and sullen ever since first appearing in the Manor's Attic all those months before.

But never before had she seen such pain and fear, such _raw emotion_ etched into those neurotic features.

Well, _almost_ never.

That morning, she could have sworn she'd seen a hint of regret, of horror and genuine sadness, when she'd declared that she never wanted to see him again. She didn't know how she knew, but she _knew without a doubt _that those words had hurt him. That one sentence had ripped through his unemotional mask and scarred his heart.

But _why_?

Scared senseless, but determined to hide it well, Piper sighed and dropped back onto the ground beside him, nodding amiably.

"Alright," she agreed, calmly, unconsciously placing a soothing hand onto his arm.

Chris let loose a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding.

But at Piper's sharp withdrawal, he glanced up at her, eyebrows raising ever so slightly and his relief vanishing into the ether, once again.

"You're burning up," she acknowledged, worriedly.

"Must be th-the injuries," he sighed, softly, attempting a disinterested shrug but failing as a fresh wave of pain hit his core. He whimpered gently and tilted his head to one side, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth,_ willing_ it to pass.

Where had that come from?

Piper's heart skipped a beat at the sight.

"_Leo_!" she shouted, suddenly hating her ex-husband for ignoring her calls while Chris was suffering so much.

_Again_, there was that irrational need to care for the boy. She felt hatred towards the man she'd not twenty minutes ago been appraising for finding the one thing she'd wanted for years. Her mother's charm bracelet.

_What the Hell was Chris doing to her_ ?!!

"Right," she murmured, more to herself than to Chris. She struggled quickly to her feet, striding over to the Book of Shadows and lifting it into her arms, almost in imitation of her youngest sister mere moments before. Shooting Chris a worried glance, she sighed and hurried back over to him, slightly concerned by his sudden obliviousness to her disappearance.

He'd been adamant, before, that he didn't want her to leave. And yet she'd left his side without so much as a word from him.

Her wonder was answered a moment later.

As she dropped to her knees beside him, once again, she discovered – thanks to the scrunched up expression of suffering on his face - that he had been far too busy trying to push away the feelings of unimaginable pain to notice that she'd left his side for a second.

'_Maybe the potion's wearing off_,' she though, sadly. '_It's not exactly a fresh batch. Hell knows how long it's been in that cupboard, and the effects will probably have diminished considerably with time._'

Scolding herself, Piper abruptly shook her head, ridding it of all unnecessary thoughts, a sudden feeling of dire urgency coaxing her into action.

"Right," she muttered again, flipping open the Book and thumbing hurriedly through the worn pages for something, _anything_ that could help. She had absolutely no idea what her Sisters were up to, but _she_ wasn't about to sit around and do nothing, of that she was more than certain.

"Piper … w-what are you d-doing?"

Piper glanced up momentarily, troubled by the slurred quality of his wavering voice.

His eyes were hazy; their quavering gaze unfocussed and clouded with pain. His chest was rising and falling in a rapid crescendo, harsh and struggling breaths rattling beneath his paler than white skin. Yet another trickle of blood had overstepped his trembling lip, and was snaking a hesitant path down and over his chin.

Piper inwardly cringed.

What _was_ she doing?

It wasn't like she knew what she was looking for; she was simply looking for the sake of looking, giving herself something to do that suggested that she was doing all she could to help him. When in _reality_ … well, she was doing nothing, really, wasn't she?

Denial made her answer him, despite her sudden revelation.

"Trying to find something that'll help you," she replied, shortly, ashamed by the snap in her voice as soon as it left her parted lips, but an unexplainable desire to save the kid overwhelming her rationality.

"Th-that's… that's not … h-helping," he less than whispered, her harshness stinging his soul.

That was all the proof he needed to know that she still hated him.

Chris couldn't handle that.

A low, almost indistinguishable sound pierced the silence, and Chris forced his vision to clear at least slightly. When he was sure he could see without the room spinning at a thousand miles per hour around him, he let his eyes fall onto the immobile form of his once-Mother.

But what Chris found for his efforts chilled his blood.

Her back was to him, her gaze still apparently fixed upon the aged pages of their priceless heirloom, but it didn't hide her actions from him.

Piper's shoulders shuddered as a tiny sob escaped her pursed lips, drifting lazily towards him and swirling around his head like a siren. Knowing his mother as well as he did, Chris could tell that Piper was damn near close to a nervous break-down.

And yet again it was his fault.

Now was the time, then.

He had to tell her.

His time was up, they both knew it, but he had to tell her before it was too late.

So it was now or never.

He couldn't leave with her hating him. He couldn't leave without telling her the truth. It killed him to lie to his family, and yet that's all he'd been able to do since he'd returned to them. Lie after lie after lie …

Well, it was about time those lies were shredded for good.

If this was it, he had to tell her, if not for himself, if not for_ her_, then at least for Wyatt. If she knew, she'd be certain to do everything she could to protect his big brother. And that was all that mattered in the end, wasn't it?

Gathering every last ounce of willpower, pushing away the rapidly returning pain of his unexplainable injuries, Chris reached a hesitant, wavering hand out towards her, struggling to sit up against his body's screaming protests.

He could feel her jump lightly beneath his fingertips, and her eyes snapped up to him, revealing a beautiful face framed by wisps of flowing auburn hair, red rimmed eyes puffy and rosy cheeks stained slightly with falling tears.

But it wasn't 'Piper', anymore.

Chris withdrew his hand sharply, the sudden movement knocking into oblivion the moment of assured balance that he'd managed to secure for himself.

Shocked by the fact that he'd managed to raise himself despite the returning pain, Piper darted forwards, reaching out to him just before his back could hit the floorboards, preventing further injury and trying but failing to provide some form of comfort. Her heart racing, she pulled him ever closer to her chest, almost soothingly, as she would Wyatt, hushing his faint whimpers as a mother would calm her infant son.

"_Phoebe_! _Paige_!" she shouted over his head, spotting the signs for herself but attempting to ignore them.

She knew he was dying, but she also knew that she couldn't handle that.

But _why_?

He was her _Whitelighter_! It wasn't like he was her _son_!

So _why_ did she suddenly feel desperate enough to take her own life if it meant saving his?

Why was her heart yearning to lift his pain away and shelter him from such suffering?

Why couldn't she hate him for deceiving them?

Why did she hate Leo for ignoring her calls?

Why was she crying like her world was shattering to pieces around her very shoulders?

…

And then she spotted it.

A series of loud and urgent thuds echoed up through the half-open Attic door, but she barely heard them, her eyes suddenly drinking in the youth that was encased like porcelain within her arms.

Piper's blood ran through her entire, motionless being like ice, chilling her veins, freezing her heart and soul as the blatant obviousness became an open truth for her.

All this time … and she'd missed it.

She never knew …

Phoebe and Paige burst back into the Attic, eyes wide with horror and hearts jammed within their throats.

"Piper, we've got company!" Phoebe cried, urgently.

But the look upon the Halliwell Matriarch's face was not one of action.

It was one of a discovery gone wrong.

Piper was lost to them.

Paige slammed the door shut as her heels overstepped the threshold, orbing a chair against it and rushing for the Book that still remained open and abandoned upon the floor beside Piper's trembling knees.

"_Piper_!" Phoebe shouted, desperately.

But her sister made not even the slightest move to suggest she could even hear her.

The doorknob rattled. Paige's fingers skimmed insistently through the many pages. Phoebe's panicked footsteps reverberated around the room as she hurried across to Piper's side, reaching a hand out to the immobile form and shaking her shoulder lightly.

Neither Paige nor Phoebe knew of what Piper had recently realised. They had not even the faintest of ideas.

But Chris did.

The potion's effects had worn off completely, now. Mere minutes, he'd had. Some potion. The pain had returned with a vengeance.

And Chris suddenly found that he knew who was on the other side of the Attic door, fighting to get in. The past three hours came flooding back into Chris' mind, accompanied by another excruciating dose of pain. The blanks were filled in, and a strong feeling of understanding dawned within him.

But it didn't matter, now.

Zereph had returned to complete what he'd started.

But none of it mattered. Only one thing could penetrate his pain-racked mind, as he stared up at Piper Halliwell.

At last, she _knew_!

"_Leo_ !!"

Nothing. No orbs, no Elder.

Just ... _nothing_.

The door crashed open, flying across the room, hinges and all, and smashing into a stacked up table on the other side of the Attic. Paige snapped the Book shut, eyes glued to the being of Darkness that was standing in the now wide-open entrance. Phoebe's gaze was locked onto Piper's face, the look of horror and self-hatred that had settled there worrying her a lot more than the Demon in the doorway.

And Piper merely sat there, tears leaking endlessly down her cheeks, as she drank in the thousands of emotions that waged war within Chris' shining green eyes.

So many things he'd wanted to tell her …

The chaos around her, the Demon, her _Sisters_ … nothing mattered.

The chaos around him, Zereph's presence, his _Aunts_ … nothing mattered.

A strange feeling of relief and peace washing over him as he considered his Mother's face, a tiny smile blossomed across Chris' features as he let out the breath he'd not realised he'd held in for so long.

His final breath.

Time had stopped. It was mocking them.

Two emerald eyes oh-so-slowly flickered shut, and a pair of almost identical wails bounced around the room like an angry chorus, piercing hearts and minds, the moment one of frozen denial.

One shriek being that of a Demon prevented the pleasure of a Kill.

The other being that of a Mother who had lost her youngest Son.

**----------------------**

**Thank you shouts to **Kitty-Witty-Kate, Amantine, DemonessLeader, Bianka, miralinda, incinera, aerohead1980, angel74, serendipity-surprise, angelkat2502, Brooklyn Halliwell, sailor cyanide, Pandora of Ithilien, Fhulhi the Crazy, Love Angel 1705, gostlcards, Meaghan, KC-Piper-Fan, Hope Calaris, CrazyC87 **and** History Buff 1990**! You guys are amazing !!**

**Please keep on reviewing!  
Huge hugs,  
****xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**


	4. Chapter 4

**Heaven Help Us  
By  
****xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**

**----------------------**

**Disclaimer: **I still, still, _still_ own nothing … Man, I'm getting fed up of saying that …

**----------------------**

**Oh.  
My.  
Goddess.**

**What feedback! Wow, you guys must_ really_ love Chris …**

**Oh, and btw, the italics at the beginning of this are the few minutes prior to Chris' 'death'. Just showin' y'all what the Sisters were up to before everything kicked off.**

**And _how_ everything kicked off …**

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

_**You don't know a thing about my sins,  
How the misery begins.  
You don't know,  
So I'm burning, I'm burning.**_

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

_Paige stomped miserably into the kitchen and threw herself down onto one of the stools beside the island. _

_Letting loose a low growl of frustration, she sighed heavily and placed her head haphazardly onto her arms, slamming it home with a little more force than her Doctor would have advised._

_Phoebe, meanwhile, ever the optimist, chose to carry the half-empty mug to the sink and manually wash it up._

'Most un-Phoebish_,' Paige pondered, finally raising her aching head as the sounds of running water pierced her eardrums._

_How odd._

_Phoebe _never_ cleaned!_

_God, the poor woman had surely lost it. _

"_Pheebs? What are you doing?" she asked, _almost_ calmly._

"_Cleaning up," Phoebe replied shortly, not sparing her sulking sister even a wary glance._

"_Yeah, I can see that," Paige retorted sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "No, I meant, _why_? You don't clean, you _hate_ cleaning!"_

"_Yeah, well, Piper'll kill us if her kitchen's a mess. Besides, it's only _one cup_, Paige!" she snapped back._

_Yup. She'd lost it._

"Exactly!_" she stressed, staring at Phoebe as though she'd just grown a second head.  
_

_Shaking her head with irritation, Paige abandoned the wooden and far from comfortable stool and jumped to her feet, heading straight for her older sister._

"_Leave it," she said shortly, yanking the mug from Phoebe's almost unresisting hands. "Leave all of that and just come and sit down."_

"_Paige," Phoebe began, scowling, "We don't have all day! Piper and Chris are up there! Don't you think we should be getting back to them?"_

_Her question was almost a plea._

_Paige sighed, her irritation vanishing as she considered her Sister's anxious face._

"_Yeah, we do, but first I think we should call Leo, again," she suggested calmly. "The washing up can wait."_

_A small smile blossomed upon Phoebe's nervous features, at that comment._

"_Yeah, don't let Piper hear you say that," she warned. _

_Paige simply grinned in return._

"_Come on, let's try Leo, again," she murmured, grabbing Phoebe gently by the arm and guiding her not so enthusiastically into the Living Room._

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

_Leo glanced at the piece of pure and sparkling gold that was hanging high above Riana's head._

_1:00 AM._

_Tick-tock, tick-tock._

_Hell, this one was slow!_

Incredibly_ slow !!  
_

_Sighing with a somehow restrained impatience, he let his gaze drop to her face once again, momentarily distracted from the plans she was displaying before him by a soft but quite discernable murmur of his name._

"Leo!_"_

_Piper._

_Riana glanced up at his sudden rigid stance._

"_Leo?" she questioned, suspiciously. _

_Startled, Leo jumped slightly, but soon regained his composure and returned his crystalline gaze to her glowing face. The robes about her shoulders rippled as if caught by an unseen wind, her richly scarlet locks bouncing in soft curls about her face, framing it almost perfectly. Her glistening silver-shaded eyes narrowed as she considered him over a pair of half-moon spectacles, her rose coloured lips pouting softly, as she shook her head and gestured at the scroll before them._

"_As you can see, the attack will most likely only succeed if …"_

_But Leo wasn't listening._

_Piper was calling for him. _

_But why did she sound so desperate?_

_Maybe she was hurt. _

_Or one of her sisters._

_He needed to get out of here!_

_Somewhat timidly, Leo turned refocused his attention upon his Fellow-Elder, and cleared his throat._

_Her words halted somewhat rudely, she glanced up at him, not even bothering to hide her annoyance._

_Leo, completely unperturbed, flashed her his biggest, shiniest and most winning grin._

"_Um, I don't wish to impose upon your thought train, but could this wait for ten minutes? Only I need to check on the Sisters. Y'know, make sure they're alright. I mean, they are, after all, still like my charges."_

_As he'd suspected before he'd even voiced his request, Riana was not impressed._

_Not even _remotely_ impressed.  
_

_Scowling at him, she shook her head._

"_No, absolutely not! Leo, we're trying to save an entire coven from being wiped out by one Warlock! We're _trying_ to prevent the inevitable slaughter of hundreds of innocents! You _cant_ just leave! And besides, Chris has replaced you as their Whitelighter, which technically makes them _his_ charges. So I'm sure if anything's wrong, they can call for him, instead."_

_Leo sighed, shaking his head. He wasn't about to give up without a fight, though._

"_Yeah, but things have been a little crazy between Piper and Chris, lately, so I don't think she'd really want to call him for help if she could avoid it," he argued._

_Unfotunately, though, Riana was not to be swayed._

"_Well then, that's a problem for the two of _them _to sort out between them. I assure you, if the situation is dire enough, your ex-wife will call for Christopher. Now, can we _please_ return to the topic at hand?"_

_And on that note, behind the sting that pierced his heart at the words 'ex-wife', Leo knew it would do no good to argue._

_He was simply going to have to wait this one out._

'May Piper have mercy upon my soul,_' he prayed to himself, internally cringing at the welcome he could expect from his 'ex-wife' when he finally escaped the wrathful Elders._

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

"Leo_ !!"_

_Phoebe sighed with frustration, throwing herself down onto the sofa with a dull thud._

_Her head connecting with the armrest, she grimaced in pain slightly and struggled into a sitting position again. After a moment, she turned to see Paige standing beside her, a strange look adorning her features as her eyebrows rose beneath the strawberry blonde locks._

"_Um, 'kay, remind me never to do that again," she moaned, massaging her head as she stumbled almost drunkenly to her feet, again._

_Paige nodded slowly, still considering her sister with a shrewdly calculating expression._

"_Sure," she muttered, slowly, eyebrows raised in wonder._

_Phoebe nodded in gratitude, apparently completely oblivious to the astute side-long glances she was receiving from the youngest Charmed One._

_Paige, stunned, shrugged her head to try to return her thoughts to the problem at hand._

_Which was their ignorant ex-brother-in-law._

_Why the Hell was he ignoring them?_

"_Y'know, I dunno 'bout you, but I'm feelin' pretty pissed with Leo, right now," Phoebe said conversationally, as she continued to unconsciously rub at her now incredibly sore head._

_Paige half-nodded._

"_Yeah, this is pointless. We'd better get back up to Piper and Chris."_

_Phoebe nodded, too, raising her eyes momentarily up to the ceiling, as if silently _willing_ Leo to appear with the pure intensity of her glare._

_Nothing._

_Not one freakin' sign of the Elder in question could be sensed from either of them. _

"_Hmm, I wouldn't want to be Leo when he finally gets his ass down here," she stated, shaking her head._

_Paige mutually agreed, already heading the stairs._

"_Come on, let's get -__" she began, half way up the first staircase, before her voice was cut short by Phoebe's shout of surprise.  
_

_Unbeknownst to her as she struggled to process the million and one thoughts rampaging around her head, her path was unexpectedly blocked a few steps above her.  
_

"_Paige, look out!" Phoebe yelled, spotting the danger before Paige could walk straight into it._

_Paige blinked and glanced up, gasping as she spotted the being that was now standing directly before her, arms outstretched in a zombie-resembling manner. _

_Heading straight for her as it slowly descended the staircase._

_Step by Step._

_Inch by Inch._

"_Who are you?" Phoebe demanded of it, watching with concern as Paige jumped hurriedly from the step she'd been standing on and backed towards her._

"_That be none of your business, be it?" it grated, its voice low and menacing._

_Enough to make the Sisters cringe._

_And with that said, the Demon raised its hands, palms outstretched towards them._

_Paige squeaked and orbed out of the way, leaving Phoebe standing directly in the path of a long stream of blazing green fire. Too shocked to move, she concentrated on channelling it backwards, instead, already aware that she couldn't move out of the way in time to avoid it._

_It worked._

_Though barely._

_Inches from her face, the emerald flames licking tantalisingly at her cheeks just enough to worry her with its blistering heat, they suddenly stopped in their tracks and shot backwards._

_The Demon, eyes wide with astonishment, shimmered out of its own weapon's line of fire just in time, leaving the strike to hit the wall above the staircase, shattering a hanging photo into a million smouldering pieces._

_Hardly a second later, the Demon had shimmered in once again, directly behind Phoebe. Paige, on the other side of the Living Room now, yelled a warning to her, and Phoebe dropped to the ground, swinging her legs around and tripping the Demon before it could make a grab for her neck._

_It went flying for its efforts._

"Lamp_!" _

_Paige's blue orbs surrounded a lamp sitting untroubled upon the side-table beside the cordless, and a flick of her wrist sent it soaring at the fallen Demon's head. Still dazed from Phoebe's knock-down, it was unprepared for the assault, and the once glorious piece of porcelain shattered with an almighty crash upon its target; the Demon's head._

"_One more time," Phoebe whispered threateningly, Paige orbing in at her side despite that nagging thought trying to persuade her against Personal Gain._

_They had no time to worry about that. _

_Shrugging those thoughts clear, she added her own glare to the mix, and the Demon visibly flinched._

_He knew who he was up against, it seemed._

_And yet apart from one wince, he seemed completely untroubled by such a knowledge._

_Phoebe's hands were up in a defensive posture, her eyes blazing._

"_Who are you?"_

_The Demon glared menacingly back at her through the blackened shroud that encompassed most of its face. The only things visible were a pair of ruby-red eyes, that spoke volumes._

"_Zereph," it answered, at last, upping its glare in tempo._

"_What d'you want from us?" Paige demanded of it, scowling suspiciously._

"_Nothin'," Zereph confirmed. _

_Both Sisters shared a look of incredulity and disbelief._

_Before he elaborated, which caused their stomachs to drop as the pieces began to fall one by one into place._

"_I'm after the Whitelighter."_

_Zereph clambered almost gracefully to his feet, brushing down the glittering cloak with one shock-white hand._

"_He'll be upstairs, be he?" he asked, casually._

_Phoebe and Paige shared yet another look._

_One of fear and anxiety, this time._

_Before they bolted for the stairs, wasting no time, not even bothering to spare the Demon one final glance as their desperation sent adrenaline pumping through their veins like poison._

"Piper_!"_

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

Well, _that _was then.

Less than two minutes ago.

And _this_ was now.

Phoebe and Paige could do nothing but look on in shock and horror, staring as the Demon shimmered from the Attic in a blind rage, leaving not even the slightest of marks behind.

Almost as though he'd never been there at all.

But they could put the pieces together.

If Zereph had been after Chris, it'd been to finish what he'd started.

So that was a pretty big clue as to _who_ had attacked Chris, then.

Oh God … _Chris_!

In denial, both Sisters shot forwards faster than a speeding train, Paige abandoning the frantic Book search and Phoebe forgetting her desperate attempts to snap Piper out of her funny mood, instead dropping to their knees at their fallen Sister's side as she continued to hold the motionlessly limp form of their Whitelighter as though he were the most precious thing in the World.

"Piper," Phoebe whispered, a painfully large lump rising within her throat. "Please … t-tell me … tell me he's not …"

She couldn't bring herself to say it.

But the tears covering up the intense and completely out of place haunted look within Piper's auburn orbs was enough to speak the truth a lot more than a verbal confirmation ever could.

"B-but the potion …"

Piper shook her head, mutely, still clinging onto Chris' prone form for dear life.

"Too old," she croaked, tears still falling thick and fast, spilling out over her ashen cheeks. Her voice was eerily strong, surprisingly, save its grittiness.

Quite unlike her hands, conversely, which were trembling so much that Phoebe could feel the movement rise up and through her own hand, which had comfortingly reached out to grip Piper's shaking shoulder.

Her own denial peaking, Paige backed up slightly, reaching out for the Book that had skidded across the floor slightly as she pushed it away in her desperate attempt to reach her grieving sister.

Hold on … _grieving_ ?!!

There was a thought ...

Paige paused, deep in thought.

Why _was_ Piper so distraught?

Sure, he was their Whitelighter.

Sure, Paige felt a sort of connection with the kid, seeing as how he was one of only three people she knew to be part-Witch, part-Whitelighter, the other two being herself and Wyatt.

But after everything he'd put Piper through mere hours ago; manipulating all of them into binding her nephew's powers, putting them all up against each other as they argued out what was best for the boy, lying to them about basically _everything _since he'd first arrived …

Just last night Piper had made it perfectly clear that she never wanted to see him again.

So why had her attitude suddenly tipped upside down so drastically?

Something wasn't right, here.

And the feeling of ill-knowledge was quickly refined when she glanced up at Piper's desperate call.

Never in her life had she heard Piper scream out for her ex-husband as though his failing to turn up would be the Death of the World.

"_Leo_ !!!"

Paige felt a tear gently roll down her cheek at the sheer _power_ behind the emotive plea.

Never in her life …

She didn't care, anymore. She _didn't care_ about everything Chris had done to them in the Past.

The Past was the Past.

And here and now, Piper was suffering.

Resolved to assist in any way possible, Paige shared a quick glance with the middle Sister, who seemed to have reached a similar conclusion for herself.

If Piper could feel so much for their Whitelighter, then so could they.

As one, all three Sisters joined hands, the youngest two of the three crouching down beside Piper, who had simply refused to remove her interlocked fingers from Chris' shock-white, nerveless ones.

Almost as if they were a lifeline.

And as one, their cries combining into one almighty cry of despair, they screamed at the top of their voices.

"_LEO_ !!"

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

Leo's head hurt.

The Sisters hadn't stopped calling for him for the best part of half an hour.

Ever since Piper's first call …

At first, he'd believed Riana was right; that Chris would handle any problems they might have had.

Well, if Piper had managed to swallow her pride and _call _for the Future Witchlighter, that is.

Which he somehow doubted quite highly.

But _now_, well things were getting desperate.

He was damn near certain that something was drastically wrong, down there.

And damn near certain that he _had to leave_!

But no, Riana was having none of it.

"Chris _can handle it_!" she said.

"_There's _nothing wrong_, Leo_!" she said.

'_Yeah, but what if he _can't?_'_ he wondered nervously, a strong and biting anxiety chilling his blood. '_What if there _is _something wrong _?!!'

No, he couldn't take the distressed screaming any more.

He'd tried to put it on mute, to follow Riana's suggestion and focus solely upon saving yet another nameless coven of witches from yet another nameless Warlock trying to make it big in the Underworld.

But he could deny his family no longer.

If things were so incredibly desperate down there, then he just _had _ to get to them.

"_LEO_ !!"

And _that_ final and frantic plea was all of the persuasion he needed.

Shoving his hand down on top of the seemingly endless pile of papers that Riana was having him read through time and again, he glared at her through narrowed eyes, his resolution set.

"Look, I'm sorry, Riana, but I _really_ can't take this, anymore. I have to go."

And with that, he jumped to his feet, ignoring her gaping protests as best he could as he stormed from the Atrium, slamming the large oak doors shut behind him. Effectively ceasing her outraged protests.

Avoiding the wide and staring eyes from the surrounding Elders, Leo kept his head down as he wandered a safe distance away from prying eyes.

"Hold on, Piper," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else, praying to whichever Gods were listening that he wasn't too late. "I'm coming."

**----------------------**

**Mega thanks to my reviewers! You guys are so awesome!**

**And they be; **History Buff 1990, Pandora of Ithilien, sailor cyanide, KC-Piper-Fan, gostlcards, Twilight in my Eyes, Joralie, Camilinha, neb92, serendipity-surprise, Fhulhi the Crazy, miralinda, angelkat2502, lady, Kitty-Witty-Kate, Samwelshdragon, Amantine, incinera, aerohead1980, scme, Larabiehn, ChristineFullerStorms, CrazyC87, DemonessLeader **and** Charmedgrl4ever

**Seriously …  
I'm, like, gobsmacked!**

**Not to be one to state the obvious, but it appears people like this story …**

**Anywho, please, _please_ keep leaving me reviews!  
I've never been so elated with my stories. Any of 'em! So all of this feedback, even on just _one_ story, is encouraging my Muse to help out with _all _of my Fics. **

**So I guess that means _a lot_ of loyal readers of my other stories owe you thanksies, too …**

**Hugs,  
****xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**


	5. Chapter 5

**Heaven Help Us  
By  
****xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**

**----------------------**

**Disclaimer: **I still, still, still, _still_ own nothing … Must I seriously say that again? It depresses me!

**----------------------**

**Um … delay bad, but I've been busy. So Sorry! (Shrugs)**

**100 Reviews! OMG! You guys are so awesome! Love ya, dudes!**

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

_**You don't know a thing about my sins,  
How the misery begins.  
You don't know,  
So I'm burning, I'm burning.**_

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

Startled eyes within tear-streaked faces all dropped from the ceiling, and the Sisters jumped backwards in surprise, as a pale-blue florescent light infiltrated the Attic.

It blinded them, the tears misting their view.

And suddenly, all three were silent, mutely watching the strange lights hover and change before their eyes.

Lights of beauty and magic.

Lights of their ex-Whitelighter.

White lights that slowly coalesced into Leo Wyatt.

He was staring at them, but they didn't care.

Their faces were tear-streaked, horrified, their eyes holding a hint of betrayal as they glared at him.

But he didn't notice.

Cautiously, he took a step towards them, his eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"Piper …"

He never had a chance to ask.

Not a second later, a hand came flying towards him.

But after it had connected with his face, catching him off-guard, he had no time to recover before yet another slap met his cheek.

And another.

And another.

"You _bastard_!" Piper screeched, continuously throwing slaps at every bit of him that she could reach.

Startled, Leo orbed out, and orbed back in again on the other side of the attic.

Only to be charged down again by Phoebe, who hadn't managed to get through Piper to lay a smack or two of her own. Her own anger was expertly combined with Piper's and it desperately needed release.

"What the _Hell_ ?!" he demanded, startled, trying to fend the girls away before they caused any further damage.

Being the calmer of the three, Paige managed to snap herself out of her almost horrified trance, and hurried to pull Phoebe back to her senses.

"Pheebs! Phoebe, _stop!_ This isn't helping!" she shouted, shaking her sister's shoulders gently but firmly.

Tears sprang into Phoebe eyes, leaking slowly but surely down her ashen cheeks, but she silently obeyed, dropping her arms and sinking to the floor, clinging onto her baby sister's arms and dragging Paige down with her.

Piper had given up, too, the anger and energy draining away as though someone had left a tap running in her soul.

Or had it all leaked out with her tears?

She was on her hands and knees, weeping, dragging herself back over to the prone figure lying beside the Book's pedestal.

Which was when Leo finally spotted it.

"Oh, God," he breathed, shooting forwards and dropping to his knees at Chris' side, his hands desperately seeking out a pulse.

But there was no gentle, reassuring thrum beneath his fingertips.

Nothing but cold.

His heart stopped.

Had he not been dead already, he would have surely died from shock.

Chris _couldn't _be dead!

But he was.

And then Leo's brain caught up with his senses.

Something was wrong, here.

Sure, he regretted that the kid was dead … but why were the Sister's so emotional about his passing? Hadn't it been that morning that Piper said she never wanted to see him again? Why was she now sitting beside her fallen Whitelighter, his limp hand clasped desperately within her own shaking one, crying for him? Begging him to return? Telling him over and over again that she was sorry, that she wished she could take everything back?

"Piper," he whispered, "what's going on? What happened?"

Piper's red-rimmed eyes sought his, and fresh tears cascaded down her cheeks.

"Why didn't you come?" she countered, quietly, her whole body trembling. Paige hurried towards her on shaky legs, and knelt down beside her, offering whatever comfort she could muster up.

But Piper barely noticed.

Her eyes were focused entirely upon her ex-husband.

As her questioning, _pleading _glare intensified, Leo was left squirming uncomfortably under the scrutinizing, demanding stare that was soon being bestowed upon him from all three Sisters.

"I was busy, Piper," he said, at last. "I couldn't just _leave_."

"D-didn't you h-hear my calls?" she asked, anger rising again like a snake preparing to strike.

He nodded vehemently.

"Of course I did! And I really wanted to leave, but Riana -"

"Oh, I get it," Phoebe said, darkly, the tears beginning to diminish. "Another Elder told you to stay put, so you had no other choice but to do what they said."

Her tone was deadly. Her heart was ripping to shreds beneath her chest, but she had no idea why. She knew that she was reeling after Piper's emotional attack, but it still made no sense to her. _Why_ was Piper so upset?

And suddenly, Phoebe wasn't upset, any more.

She was angry.

She was furious.

At that very moment, she despised Leo with every fibre of her being!

No, wait … _she_ didn't.

_Piper_ did.

Leo was crouching beneath her, his gaze falling guiltily onto the wooden floor panels, as though fascinated by them.

After all, she was right.

Paige was next in line for playing the guilt game.

"If you weren't allowed to leave, what are you doing here now?" she asked, scathingly, rubbing soothing circles into Piper's back as her sister continued to clutch Chris' lifeless hand to her shaking chest.

"I couldn't stay up there when things sounded so bad down here!" he shouted suddenly, his own composure falling into oblivion.

"_I needed you down here the moment I first shouted for you_!" Piper screamed back, her fury winning out over her desire to keep calm. "Things have been 'so bad' for at least half an hour! All those times we called you … _all those times_! And you still didn't think things were _bad_ ?!"

Leo sighed and nodded.

"I did, but I couldn't leave. I thought … if it was really bad … that Chris would help …" but he trailed off, knowing full well that Piper wasn't even listening, anymore. Her hate-filled auburn eyes had left his face with a simple shake of the head, and she was now staring at the immobile form beside her.

"What happened?" Leo asked again, calmer this time, quieter.

"A Demon attacked," Paige replied, softly, staring at her Sister. "He must have attacked Chris earlier on, though. Piper wanted to summon him to try and find out what's going on with the whole 'Wyatt-is-the-evil-Overlord-of-the-Future' thing, and this is how he turned up."

"Oh," was all Leo could say, as he drank in Piper's tear-stained face.

_But _why_ was she so upset _?!

"The Demon's called Zereph," Phoebe said, after a moment's pause. Leo blinked and looked up. "Know him?"

He shook his head, frowning, momentarily distracted by the question.

But Piper wasn't.

"Why the Hell are you just _sitting _there ?!" she demanded of him, glaring daggers into his very soul. Leo visibly winced, but answered quite calmly.

"Well, what do you want me to do, Piper? He's already dead. All I can do is go and check out this Zereph character with the Elders and -"

"_No!_ God Damn it, Leo! You will _not _run out on me again! You've got to _save him_! You've done it before!"

"Piper, everything happens for a reason! This will have done, too! Maybe it was Chris' time to die!"

Piper shook her head, tears stinging at her eyes yet again.

God, everything was just so messed up.

"I can't lose him, Leo," she almost begged, her voice breaking. "_Please_, Leo if you loved me, you'd save him. If you truly loved me you'd fix this!"

Leo's heart sank.

"Of _course_ I love you!" he murmured, gob-smacked. This made no sense. "Why does he mean so much to you, Piper? Why would you wager our love on me saving him, when you know that I can't?"

But that was the last of her composure.

"_Damn it, Leo! I can't lose my son!_"

Silence.

"What?" he whispered disbelievingly.

It was out, now.

Phoebe and Paige were staring at Piper, pure, unmatchable shock adorning their features as their eyes sought out Chris' prone form.

And they, like Piper in those last few moments, finally spotted the signs.

The hair. The eyes. The stubbornness. The strength. The obsession when it came to protecting Wyatt. The secret but easy-to-spot love for helping innocents …

This kid practically screamed 'Halliwell'.

And they'd never even noticed …

"Oh, my God," Paige whispered, horrified, her grip on Piper's shoulder tripling until her nails were digging painfully hard into the skin.

Phoebe's hand flew to her mouth, and she looked like she wanted to faint, as the truth hit her with inexplicable force.

Piper wasn't sure in that moment if she'd made the right decision.

At least before, her Sister's had had less of a chance of losing it before they could help Chris.

But that last comment had been the last straw. Leo's demanding that she tell him why she felt so attached to her Whitelighter was just too much to ignore.

And now … well, she felt a little better, at least, not being the only person to know the truth.

She shot a sympathetic look to each of her sisters in turn, then returned to staring at Leo.

Who was whiter than a sheet, as his eyes burned into hers, silently pleading with her to debunk her last comment.

To tell him it was a joke.

But she couldn't.

And when her reassuring glance dropped away from his and fell instead upon Chris' immobile form, he felt his eyes drawn to it, too.

And his resolve crumbled.

Chris was his son.

And Leo hadn't been there to help

After everything they'd done to him …

God, Wyatt was his _brother_! Wyatt was evil in the future … his own brother was the very thing that their family constantly fought against …

Just that morning ... he'd said it ... Chris had come out and confessed to them that Wyatt was the evil he'd returned to the Past to stop.

And Piper had kicked him out …

As for Leo, well, _he'd _been nothing but accusing, suspicious, annoying and abusive ever since Chris had first arrived … he'd _hit _his son, followed him, accused him …

_He'd hit his son!_

Oh, God.

This was all wrong.

What the Hell had they done ?!

"Can you fix this?" a small, broken voice asked, breaking Leo out of his mortified trance and leaving water to slip gently down out of his jade green eyes … eyes that his son had inherited …

Everything made sense, now. Everything Chris had said and done during his brief stint in the Past. His actions had been questionable, his motives suspicious … but not any more.

He'd returned to save his family.

To save the future.

To save his brother.

And they'd done nothing but make life one endless tormenting struggle, constantly on his back, questioning his every move, putting personal lives and issues ahead of his constant nattering to hunt Demons …

"Yes," he agreed, his voice barely above a whisper as he stared directly at Piper, his eyes showing a newly inserted resolution and a gleaming determination. "Yes, Piper. Don't worry, I'll fix it."

A grateful half-smile set his resolve completely, and he almost smiled back. The Sisters were kneeling together, their hands joined for support, and each sent Leo an encouraging nod.

They had a lot to make up for, and all four of them knew it.

And if he could, Leo knew that he damn well would.

The Elders had held him back. They'd prevented him from saving his son.

And a hatred unlike any he'd ever felt towards them erupted within his heart. After all they'd put his family through …

_Family_ …

Yes, this was it. It was time he focused on his family, instead of his duties.

With a genuine smile of reassurance to the Sisters, Leo sighed heavily, and orbed away.

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

Chris sighed, staring out at the piercingly bright lights before him. He could hear running water … there was water swirling about his legs, sucking temptingly at his feet, slowly and encouragingly pulling him along through the whiteness.

Luring him in.

'_So this is Death,_' he mused, admittedly slightly disappointed.

He'd expected something a little bit more … Glam? Exciting? Intriguing?

But this was just … White …

Nothing but Whiteness. Whiteness and Water.

And it calmed him.

He'd wanted more, but actually, this was okay.

No worries. No fighting. No Demons. No Wyatt. No more running for his life. No Sisters accusing everything he did, everything he said.

No Piper.

He didn't have to see her standing before him, living, breathing … but completely oblivious to his significance.

He didn't have to pretend it didn't hurt every time she ignored him, or questioned him, or demanded of him, or went against him.

He didn't have to distinguish between 'Piper' and 'Mom', anymore, either.

It was over.

He could sleep.

The current around his legs continued to pull teasingly at his legs, growing stronger as it sensed his desire to go with it.

Just a few more steps, and it would all be over.

Fighting for his life had drained him. Life wasn't 'lived', anymore.

It was a chore. A duty. A requirement.

No, he'd had enough, now.

It wasn't like he received rewards for his efforts, anyway. Nothing but grief and suspicion. He was constantly opposed, every little thing was for the wrong cause, the wrong side. He couldn't please anybody, and yet the blame always fell upon _him_, as did the responsibility.

But not here.

Here, it didn't matter if he showed weakness, if he broke down and cried.

The tears he'd had to contain for just short of seven years could finally burst their barriers.

And they did.

They slid from his broken emerald eyes, splashing down into the almost crystalline water below him. Vanishing from existence.

Just like he had.

That's all he was, in the end. One person. One more droplet of water amidst an endless and ever-changing sea.

A burden. Insignificant. Useless.

A mistake.

But it was over, now. He didn't care anymore. He wasn't what he used to be. He'd changed. For the better, he thought, but he couldn't be certain.

And now … well, who cared? He was dead.

It was over.

…

The light was so bright.

So beautiful.

As bright as the moon that had laughed at him, as he stumbled towards Prescott Street mere minutes ago.

If he listened closely, he could almost hear the mocking chuckles of the gently swirling wind, almost hear the distorted rustles of the amused Autumn leaves.

The light was so bright. So full. So _beautiful_. A beacon of light fluttering into his blackened, darkened soul; it's magical, ethereal glow disturbed every now and again by a splash of water from beneath his ever moving feet.

For the first time in years, ever since Wyatt's turning, ever since the Death of his Mother, Chris was calm.

Tired, exhausted, aching, hurting …

But calm.

Somewhere far away and deep inside his mind, he knew that this was the easy way out. He was quitting, giving up.

But he didn't care.

He was abandoning his mission. He was leaving his family behind, giving up on Wyatt before thing's had even started.

But he didn't care. What family?

And Wyatt was already lost. It wasn't like _he_ was making much of a difference. The Sister's didn't even trust him!

And at least Piper _knew_, now.

That was all he'd needed to know. He couldn't have left things behind still knowing that Piper had never known the truth.

But she did.

So she'd work harder to protect Wyatt, now, _surely_? She'd _have_ to believe him! He was her _son!_

Or did she?

A small nagging doubt was worming its way into his head.

Had she even spotted it? She'd been crying as he died in her arms … but were those tears genuine? Maybe they were tears of regret. Of mild sorrow. After all, he hadn't really made it easy on them. He'd just jumped right into their lives, completely throwing things out of balance, splitting up Piper and Leo, sending the girls on countless Demon-hunts, introducing them to Bianca ...

What if she still didn't believe him?

No, Chris decided he really didn't care, anymore.

He'd had enough of worrying about the consequences.

He was dead, so he might as well enjoy it. He didn't _need_ to worry about the consequences, anymore. It wasn't his problem.

He was done.

The current was dragging him further and further into the whiteness, but he walked deeper by himself, now. He helped it along, sloshing determinedly through the lapping waters towards the glowing light ahead of him.

Until a small, almost indistinguishable voice fluttered into his ears, riding over the top of the splashing waters.

Stopping him in his tracks.

"You don't want to do that."

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

**Hee hee, I'm feeling evil, today.  
That's the second update in one day that's ended on an evil cliffy! Sorry, dudes!**

**But thanks a million to all you wonderful people out there! Seriously, this story would be nothin' without ya's!**

**And special thanks go out to **angelkat2502, DemonessLeader, Twilight in my Eyes, neb92, serendipity-surprise, KC-Piper-Fan, Pandora of Ithilien, CrazyC87, sailor cyanide, charmedgrl4ever, bstant, Shahlooblah, scme, Amantine, ChristineFullerStorms, History Buff 1990, aerohead1980, DimpleBulbo, Fhulhi the Crazy, Scary-Girly, Rotem, Camilinha, Kitty-Witty-Kate, Laily7420, Secret Thought, -Holly-Fan-1-, Vie-Boheme, omalleyanatomy26, Sparrow317, Ryo-girl, anonymous-unknown **and **Charmedp3123

**So many reviews, guys!  
I hope this was worth the wait!**

**Much love, and please keep reviewing!  
Hugs,  
****xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**


	6. Chapter 6

**Heaven Help Us  
By  
****xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**

**----------------------**

**Disclaimer:** I still, still, still, still, _still_ own nothing … Um, I'm beginning to see a pattern, here …

**----------------------**

**Yo, dudes! **

**Well, 'cause I love y'all _sooo_ much … and because I felt guilty about the wait for last chapter … I've decided to post this one a little earlier. So you get two chappies this week! WooHoo!**

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

_**You don't know a thing about my sins,  
How the misery begins.  
You don't know,  
So I'm burning, I'm burning**_

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

Chris jammed his eyes shut, his face rising skywards as he mentally prayed for strength. A strength that he shouldn't even _need _to find.

After all, the natural order of things clearly stated that fighting was for the 'living', not for the 'dead'.

So what the Hell was he doing ?!

His heart clattering beneath his ribcage, Chris shook his head, trying his damndest to ignore the ever-present current as he searched his soul for even the _tiniest_ glimmer of power.

Even if it was infinitesimal.

But the Whiteness was looming before him, majestic but soothing.

Calling to him.

He was _so close_ …

Peace was mere feet away … a few more sloshing steps and he could finally rest.

Rest after _so long_ …

"Chris -"

"I can't do this, anymore," Chris whispered. Almost _pleaded_.

Silence.

You _knew_ things weren't looking good when Chris pleaded. He was always so strong, so in control, so stubborn, so _bossy_ … Never before had they heard him _plea_ …

A beat.

"You don't mean that."

Chris nodded vigorously, a half-smile emerging upon his lips as he finally turned around, properly facing his follower. "Oh, but I do," he said simply, the current around his feet lapping against them teasingly and pulling hungrily at his heels.

But he stood his ground, curling his toes into the base of his soaked trainers and rooting himself to the floor. What was the rush? He'd go with it eventually.

"Y'see," he continued solemnly, sparing the Whiteness a fleeting glance before turning back again, "nothing's worked. Not here in the Past, not back in the future. Nowhere. No matter what I do, it's never the right thing."

He sounded almost regretful.

Ashamed, even.

Tears sprang once again into his already sparkling eyes, misting the icy-green depths slightly, but he bit them back before they could fall. He'd cried enough, now. He'd cried for what was. He didn't need to cry anymore.

It was over.

"I can't do anything right," he went on, the pull becoming stronger and stronger with every word he spoke.

He was actually having to _work_ to keep himself from drifting off with it.

Shrugging, Chris sighed heavily, - a sigh that suggested the kid held the entire weight of the world upon his trembling shoulders - before he spoke again, his voice much quieter this time. Softer.

"And … I'm just so tired of trying, now. So tired of caring."

The tears were easier to spot. They so dearly wanted to fall … but he wouldn't let them. No more tears would fall. _No more tears_!

"I don't want to care anymore," he whispered brokenly. "I don't want to worry, I don't want to fight. I don't want the responsibility. I don't want the guilt or the sadness or the memories. I just don't want to care."

Leo shivered knowingly, his eyes jamming shut momentarily as he fought with himself to take another step towards his damaged son.

Chris' calmness was creepy.

He wasn't shouting, wasn't defensive, wasn't angry … he was calm. Hurting, but still undeniably calm.

Eerily, _creepily _calm.

Deathly calm.

And 'calm' just wasn't Chris.

'_Oh, sod it!_'

Ignoring the annoying little voices inside his head that suggested moving was a very bad idea, Leo forced himself to take one tiny step forwards. The water protested, tugging dangerously hard at his feet, but he ignored the swirling currents, focussing instead upon the worn, exhausted features of his youngest son's deathly-pale face.

And it hit him.

Hard.

Harder than hard, even.

'_Oh my God, he really _is_ my son!_'

The kid had _his_ eyes! Piper's hair, her facial features, her stubborn attitude, _his _stubborn attitude come to think of it, her snappiness, her determination, Paige's sarcasm, Phoebe's think-on-her-feet skills, the _whole family's_ protectiveness …

His son … this _really was _his son …

Another step. A little larger than the first.

The water wasn't happy, but again he ignored it, pushing his way ever-so-gently through the thickening, almost-soup-like liquid.

Chris didn't move.

Inwardly, the Elder sighed with relief, but thought it best to stop where he was, rather than push his luck all at once.

He offered a small, shaky smile, and reached out a tentative hand.

But Chris made no move to take it.

He was staring at the water, instead. Mesmerised.

"I can heal you, Chris," he whispered, his head telling his feet to move again, but his feet ignoring his demands. "There isn't a lot of time, but if you come with me now, I can heal you. It's not over, Chris."

Chris laughed.

But it wasn't a laugh of amusement.

It was one of sadness, of denial and hopelessness. A cold, harsh laugh that echoed ominously around them as it flitted away into the White void.

Leo shivered again.

"Of _course_ it's over, Leo!" Chris chuckled humourlessly, his eyes drifting away from Leo's wary face to stare behind him at the ever-calling light. "It was over the moment Mom died! It was over the moment Wyatt murdered his first innocent! It's been over for seven years! I've just been too blind to see it! Too determined to ignore it!"

Much to Leo's horror, Chris was sliding further and further away from him, the current reeling him in without his notice, now.

Worried beyond belief as Leo was about his faithless son, the reply Chris had just given didn't fully sink in. That first bit ... he missed it completely.

"No," he called firmly, almost on automatic, taking yet another tentative step forwards. His eyes held a look of haunted determination as he reached out, stretching his hand another few millimetres towards Chris' prone but fading form.

"No," he said again, shaking his head slightly. "We know the truth now, Chris. We can fix this. We can make it so that _none_ of that ever happens! We _can_ save Wyatt, Chris. _You_ can save him! There's still time, there's still a chance! You just can't give up!"

But Chris barely seemed to be listening.

"I could see her again," he murmured, more to himself than to his future-father. He was staring intently into the burning Whiteness, now. Intently focussed upon its calling brightness.

"What?" Leo asked, confused, taking advantage of Chris' turned back to move forwards a further few steps.

'_Nearly there_ …'

"Mom's there," Chris said, the tears welling again. "She's in there, I _know_ she is … I could see her again, after all this time … and Aunt Paige, too …"

Leo's heart stopped.

"Wait," he half-whispered, "Piper's _dead_ ?!"

The falling tears answered his question with a lot more conviction than a verbal reply ever could.

Chris had held them back. For _so long_ he'd tried to fight them away … but now they fell with a vengeance, stinging his numbed-by-cold cheeks, staining, _marking_ them before falling down into the churning waters below.

Leo had a hard time keeping _himself_ from drifting off into the deepest depths of Death as the realisation hit him face-on. Suddenly aware of very little around him as the true meaning behind such a simple act became clear, it was a few moments before his eyes told his brain that time was almost up.

Chris was standing mere feet from nothingness.

Those few tiny feet … and his son would be lost forever.

He vigorously shook his head, quite like a dog would to rid its ears of water, and threw all caution to the winds. Taking great, striding steps towards his son, he realised his mistake seconds too late.

Chris started as the frozen hand encircled around his wrist and, on instinct, roughly pulled himself out of harms way.

Only to leave his already shaky balance to take the full hit, as yet another powerful tug about his ankles dragged him onwards into the burning brightness.

But he hardly cared. His Mom's face … not _Piper's_, but his _Mom's_ beautiful face was smiling at him from the heart of the pure ball of light that called to him. The age-lines around her eyes and the hints of grey scattered within her long and flowing auburn locks convinced him beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was the lady who had raised him since birth.

This was his _Mom_! He _knew_ she'd be waiting for him! He _had_ to see her, if only to beg for forgiveness, if only to tell her finally just how much he loved her, how much he missed her, how much he _needed_ her.

"_Mom_?" he whispered, disbelievingly., eyes wide and tears flowing steadily as he let the current drag him in without so much as a struggle.

He was oblivious to the pleading shouts from behind him.

Leo didn't matter, anymore. Nobody but _her_ mattered, now.

All that registered in his mind was that he was standing feet away from his mother.

The real world didn't matter, anymore. Wyatt didn't matter, anymore. _His life_ no longer mattered.

Only her …

"Chris, whatever you're seeing you have to _ignore it_!" Leo reasoned, horrifically aware that his time was almost up. Desperate, he reached out for Chris' arm again and anchored himself to his drifting son before he could float away completely.

Realising that movement was suddenly restricted somewhat, Chris turned and glared at him, eyes burning with hatred and brimming with tears. Suddenly furious, he reached out with his free hand and struggled to pry Leo's frozen fingers from his aching wrist.

"Get _off_!" he shouted, fuming. "I have to get to her! Let me go!"

But Leo shook his head, his eyes locked upon Chris' almost as firmly as his hand was locked onto his tugging wrist.

"There's nobody there, Chris!" he shouted back, trying to remain calm but failing abysmally as the current upped its strength to try and drag him along, too.

It wasn't having this.

But neither was Leo.

He'd screwed up.

But he damn well wasn't about to lose Chris, now! Not when he'd just discovered the truth! No way!

Gritting his teeth, he braced himself for the thump that came moments later, as Chris struck out at him in his frantic attempts to break free. He'd had so little energy, up until now. And all of a sudden, he had too much for his own bloody good!

A wild pounding ringing in his ears as his eyesight blurred, slightly, Leo made not a sound as he forced his balance to hold, as he forced his _resolve_ to hold.

"Chris, I _won't_ lose you, _now_!" he hissed, determined.

"But _Mom -_"

"_Isn't there_, Chris!" Leo argued, miraculously managing to find the willpower to strengthen his grip. "Piper's safe! She's at home with Phoebe and Paige and Wyatt! Remember him, Chris? _Your brother_!"

But Chris had had enough. His eyes screwed tight, he screamed out to the heavens around him, his words ringing around them mockingly.

"_I can't do this anymore_!"

And that was it.

The energy was gone.

No struggling, no fighting, no arguing, no shouting … just … _nothing_.

Chris let his legs give out beneath him, crumpling to the floor and nearly dragging his father down with him.

Mom wasn't there, anymore. The Whiteness was empty, devoid of life. All it held was a sparklingly innocent quality, as though it was winking at him. As though it pitied him. It wanted him to rest, now. It wanted him to follow it into the silence beyond, to give in.

And Chris didn't have the energy to object.

He didn't care, anymore.

He gave up.

Terrified, Leo splashed down into the water directly in front of his fallen son, blocking his path. He held Chris by the shoulders, his eyes wide and fearful.

"Look at me, Chris," he begged, a lump rising in his throat.

The tears were falling again. Splashing into the water around him, mixing with Death's icy stream and floating away into the Whiteness.

And Chris wanted to flow away with them.

But Leo was in the way.

And he didn't have the energy to move.

"Chris, _please_!"

Trembling, Chris let a small sigh escape his parted lips, and he lifted his weary, tear-filled gaze to his father's desperate face.

Leo felt a gasp rising before he could hold it back.

Chris seemed so small, so vulnerable as he sat before him, soaked to the skin and shivering, tear-tracks glistening against his ashen skin as his haunted eyes silently implored with his father.

The glow from the surrounding waters sent white lights dancing across his face, giving it an almost angelic quality.

Angel …

"Chris, Wyatt needs you," Leo tried, seeing that, for the first time, Chris had no energy to fight back. He shuffled forwards a little, fighting tooth-and-nail against the ever-pulling current. "Piper needs you, your aunts need you! _I_ need you, Chris! We can't do this without you! Do you really want to abandon your brother, now? After everything? Can you really just give up on saving Wyatt?"

Chris shrugged half-heartedly.

"If I was dead it wouldn't be my problem," he murmured, almost wistfully. "And besides, the Sisters don't even believe me. Not one of you trusts me! And I totally understand why. I deserve it, it's all my own fault … but I'm not helping anyone, back there. It'd be better for all of us if you just went, now. I can't fight anymore. I'm sick of fighting. I'm sick of everything being my fault, my responsibility. It always comes back to _me_. And I can't do it. I just _can't do it_."

Leo considered his son, thoughtfully.

"But it's _not_ your responsibility anymore, Chris," he started, almost hesitantly. "We're going to help you. No more standing against you, no more arguments or distrust. God knows you must hate every single one of us, Chris, and believe me, right now the Sisters are wallowing so deep in self-pity that I think only seeing you up and healthy could ever bring them out of it. They want to apologise to you! They really _need_ to! And they can't very well do that when you're stuck here, can they?"

Chris shrugged, avoiding the Elder's piercing gaze.

"And what about Zereph?" he added, as an afterthought.

One last shot.

And it worked.

Chris finally glanced up, just long enough to glare distastefully at Leo in a way that said 'mention that name again in my presence and die'.

"See?" Leo pressed, restraining a smug smile with immense difficulty. "Do you _seriously_ want to go without at least _attempting_ to avenge your death?"

Chris' eyebrows raised.

"Never thought I'd hear an Elder talking about revenge as though it was as common as muck, Leo. Are you _sure_ you're supposed to be up here?"

His tones were almost light, conversational.

Almost.

Leo half-smiled.

"Well, let's put it this way … I know where I'd rather be," he finished, his mood melancholy as he thought of the life he'd been forced to leave behind.

Chris nodded and fell silent, staring again into the pulling, swirling liquid around him as though it held the answers he was so desperately trying to find.

"So are you coming, then?" Leo asked, casually, externally cool and collected, internally screaming and pleading that his son would see sense. That Chris would make the right decision before it really _was_ too late.

The current was impossibly strong; Leo could feel his strength ebbing away like sand through an hourglass as he struggled to maintain a firm grip upon Chris' shivering shoulders.

Chris paused, his eyes glazed as he studied the calling Whiteness one last time. With a heavy sigh, he shrugged nonchalantly, and then nodded once, offering his dripping hand to his father but avoiding eye contact.

Leo beamed at him, relief swelling like an inflating balloon in his chest, his own hands quivering madly as his nerves stood on end. Desperate to get away before Chris had a chance to change his mind, he wasted no time in pulling his soaked son to his feet.

Chris swayed as the water pulled harder at his legs, sensing that its prey was mere inches from escape.

A last-ditch effort to cling onto him.

Hurriedly, Leo latched firmly onto Chris' arm, and before the current could do anything more, father and son had orbed away in a flurry of bright white lights; lights bright enough to over-ride even the Whiteness of Death.

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

**Thanksies to **neb92, Amantine, charmedgrl4ever, Blue Eyed Dragon Girl, Kitty-Witty-Kate, scme, Pandora of Ithilien, running in circles, angelkat2502, omalleyanatomy26, serendipity-surprise, Long-Live-Christopher, sailor cyanide, Twilight in my Eyes, Charmedp3123, Dsne, teal-lover, KC-Piper-fan, onesmartgoalie, Fhulhi the Crazy, History Buff 1990, aerohead1980, Sparrow317, Brooklyn Halliwell, DemonessLeader **and** PH2W

**Oh, and I've reserved two cyber-cookies; **

**One for _charmedgrl4ever_, 'cause … well, she probably knows why (I'm glad I helped if only a tiny bit! Keep smiling!), but thanksies for updating A Different Ending, too! That's another reason! )**

**And the other for _Long-Live-Christopher_, who's like a Fanfic legend on this thing! And she like's the Oldies! WooHoo for classic Chris fics! Thanks for the Constructive Crit, honey! Much appreciated! ;P**

**And I guess … 'cause I'm feel generous again … I'll give the rest of ya a cyber-cookie, too, if y'all review this chappie! Go on … hit that li'l blue button down there … you _know_ you want a chocolate-chip-melt-in-the-mouth-cyber-cookie … (Grins)**

**Hugs,  
****xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**


	7. Chapter 7

**Heaven Help Us  
By  
****xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**

**----------------------**

**Disclaimer:** I still, still, still, still, still, _still_ own nothing … Seriously, are you guys not catchin' my drift, yet?

**----------------------**

**Ahem, sorry for the wait. With it being the last few weeks before Easter, School, Coursework and Exam Prep has been on a record-breaking high. I haven't managed to get to bed any earlier than 12:30 _every_ morning since my last post … sigh**

**Still, holiday equals relaxing equals writing equals more posts! …  
And equals time to decorate my Bedroom for the first time since we moved in! (giddy dance)**

**AnyWho,  
Happy Easter, dudes! **

**Enjoy!**

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

_**You don't know a thing about my sins,  
How the misery begins.  
You don't know,  
So I'm burning, I'm burning**_

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

Halliwell Manor was silent.

Not quiet, as it had been before.

But silent.

Completely and utterly silent.

An hour ago, the house had been shrouded in a stillness of peace and comfort. A quietness that suggested its far and few inhabitants were retiring for the night. Granted, it had been Midnight then, but that was actually quite early for the Halliwell Sisters.

So a welcome silence of warmth and sleepiness had fallen around the 'odd' red house.

_Silence._

…

An hour had passed, if that.

Piper Halliwell and her infant son had to be the only ones currently at home. After all, Phoebe and Paige had moved out, had they not?

So the stillness was to be expected. The kid was probably in bed, by now.

Leaving Piper, if indeed she was still up.

Which explained away perfectly the wonderful, _blissful_ silence.

…

But that hour had passed, hadn't it?

Silent, it still was.

But it wasn't warm and peaceful, anymore.

In the space of a few precious minutes, the stillness had changed.

Prescott Street lay ever encased within its own irreversible slumber, not a bark or prowling call of a stray cat to be heard for miles. But the stillness wasn't the same.

The brief appearance of a dying and broken youth had long since passed. The kid had vanished from existence mere seconds after appearing - on the stroke of the Witching Hour - , and Prescott Street remained none the wiser as the silence was restored.

An hour of blissful stillness …

But that hour had passed, hadn't it?

Nothing had changed.

Except for one _tiny_ little thing.

_Two_ squares of golden light were visible now, filtering out over the perfectly manicured lawns of the Halliwell House.

One still shone out brightly from the conservatory.

It hadn't stopped shining, not for a second.

But _now_, there was another. Less pronounced but still visible, none-the-less.

Shining out from the Attic.

The strange, overly-used and raucous Manor Attic.

And Prescott Street knew that its peace and tranquillity was about to be slaughtered.

Its inhabitants no longer slept soundly. Men and Women alike, couples, the elderly, the young, the working, the retired, all twisted fitfully in their beds, nightmares of real life disturbing the pleasant dreams of minutes before. Children cried out, wrapped up within relentless bonds of fear, horror, shock and exhaustion, unknowingly shrinking away from the monsters in their closets and the creatures of darkness that resided under their beds.

And all because one tiny little square of golden light was now filtering out over the flawless, blooming lawns of Halliwell Manor, mingling in immaculately with the innocent and winking Conservatory light.

And all the while, the moon continued to quiver expectantly, _knowingly_, hanging high from her lofty perch.

Still silently watching …

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

"Paige, will you sit down, _please_?" Phoebe pleaded, rubbing desperately at her temples. "You're driving me _insane_! As if this isn't bad enough!"

Paige blinked and looked up, her fingers knotting together as she stumbled to a halt beside the sofa. Phoebe was sitting beside the Book, flicking through it but with no real conviction as to what exactly she was looking for.

Much like Paige had earlier, in fact.

She sighed heavily and spared a sympathetic glance for the Empath.

"Sorry," she murmured guiltily. "It's just … y'know …" and she fell silent, throwing herself down onto the sofa and rubbing unconsciously at her arms. Phoebe sighed too and nodded.

"Yeah, but I'm reeling enough as it is, right now. I just don't need your anxieties on top of everyone else's."

Paige nodded distractedly, ignoring the bite in Phoebe's tones for fear of retaliating. They were all feeling it, after all. Rising would do no good.

Instead, she sent her sister a compassionate smile and curled up into the sofa, eyes closed and lips pursed.

Phoebe half-smiled gratefully and turned yet another page, her optimism lying thin as she barely skimmed its contents, knowing full well that it wasn't going to help them.

And silence fell again, broken every few seconds by the rustle of the Book of Shadows, and the occasional hiccup from the Halliwell Matriarch.

…

Piper had barely moved an inch since Leo's unfashionably late arrival.

She still sat, motionless, beside her lifeless youngest son, silent tears coursing continuously down her ashen cheeks, their hands forcefully entwined, as though each was the ultimate lifeline for the other.

Not for the first time, Phoebe desperately wanted to run across that Attic and throw her arms around the immobile pair in a bone-crushing hug … but her legs wouldn't carry her that far.

So the Book of Shadows was the next best thing.

Page after page after page …

_Rustle, rustle, rustle_ …

'_The next page will be the one … the next one … the next page …_'

But it wasn't.

So she turned the page again.

And again.

And again.

She didn't have a clue what she was looking for, but she searched regardless.

Anything that might return her nephew to the Land of the Living? Anything that might wake up a Halliwell from the ever dreaded endless slumber? Anything that might soothe her Sisters' nerves?

Hell, anything about Zereph would be a start.

'Surely_ the next page …_'

But it wasn't.

So she turned the page again.

And again.

And …

"Oh my God, _Chris_!"

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

Pain.

Pure. Unmatchable. _Unbelievable_.

His very being was burning.

His skin.

His mind.

His _soul_.

Everything burned.

Red hot. Scorching. Scarring.

Christ, it hurt!

It hurt _so much_!

And just as he was mentally screaming for death to take him again, just as he was begging with whatever powers were currently laughing manically at his pain to find the decency to let him go … everything stopped.

And there was nothing.

He wasn't burning, anymore.

Far from it.

He was _freezing_!!

There was no sight, no sound, no light, no dark, no up, no down.

There was just … _nothing_.

Nothing but cold.

Biting, freezing, _aching_ cold.

Goosebumps were erupting up and down his frozen arms, but he couldn't exactly tell _where_ his arms were.

His lungs were burning for oxygen, struggling to draw in that precious, life-saving commodity, but he just didn't know how to do it. Where did oxygen come from?

There was an incessant, obvious pounding somewhere near where he thought was the top of his body. His head, was it?

Yeah, his head was banging.

And the noise. The scraping, gasping noise … no, that was him, as well. His rasping breaths as he fought to keep his racing heart beating.

_Deafening._ The noise was _deafening_!

But wait … _was_ it beating?

_Was_ his heart capable of pumping blood around his failing body when he didn't even know how to breathe?

Was there even any blood left _in_ there?

He was alive, though barely.

And not for long.

Already, his entire being was resisting his desperate attempts to cling to reality.

He just couldn't do it.

There was a scream, or so he thought.

A shout.

An exclamation of fear and shock and horror and … well, _Hell_ knew what other emotions were mingled into that one heart-felt cry.

But who was it?

And _where_ was it?

"Oh my God, _Chris_!"

Chris … yes, that was him. 'Chris', his name was.

But what's in a name?

Names are just titles.

And right now, he didn't need his title.

Right now, the only thing he wanted to feel was peace. He wanted the cold to vanish, the pain to ease, the feelings to leave, the freezing biting chill to drift away, almost as though it'd never even existed.

But it didn't.

It grew, instead.

And soon, he was screaming.

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

One long, pain-racked scream resonated around the Attic like a knelling bell.

Like a warning.

Paige's hand flew to her mouth almost as quickly as her feet flew into action and propelled her forwards, until she was diving onto the ground beside him. Phoebe's haste had sent their precious family heirloom flying clean across the room. The Book was now buried beneath half an inch of dust as it skidded to a halt beside Aunt Pearl's old battered couch.

But Phoebe paid it no heed as her eyes darted from mother to son with lightning speed.

Within a second, all three Sisters were gathered around Chris' frail and trembling form, identical looks of shock, relief, horror and fear adorning their worn, exhausted faces.

Tears were welling, falling, _splashing_ down around them, but they hardly cared.

"Chris," Piper half-whispered, half-sobbed, her hand quadrupling the strength upon his own as she raised it to her chest. "Chris, baby, it's okay, you're okay."

_Soothing_! Her words were supposed to be _soothing_, damn it!

Could he even hear her?

She didn't know.

She dearly hoped he could.

After what seemed an eternity, his screams subsided, no longer reverberating around their heads like a klaxon and instead imposing upon them the full scale of the situation.

Mere seconds of life had been spared for him, and he could barely handle those.

He needed healing.

And fast.

Piper's head shot up in fear, her eyes bambi-wide and her heart beating out a bass accompaniment for her frantic feelings.

"_Le -_"

But her distressed cry was silenced immediately by the shower of glowing blue orbs that rained down beside the Sisters a moment later.

Rained down to form a familiar figure, crouching beside their fallen family member, hands outstretched and glowing, sending tendrils of pure, _beautiful_ golden light to dance magically over the trembling heap.

No-one moved.

No-one spoke.

No-one dared breathe.

…

And finally, it stopped.

The blood ceased its freshly-started onslaught as it was _forced_ back into the boy's body.

The wounded skin was expertly woven back together, the great and bloody gashes sewing themselves closed, leaving scarcely a blemish in sight.

The many and violently purple bruises _oh so slowly_ faded from existence.

The irrational breathing gradually evened out until it was much easier for their ears to bear.

And at last, _at last _it was over.

Piper's heart had jumped straight up and into her throat. Words were forming haphazardly upon her tongue, but were constricted from emerging over her chapped and parted lips. Two hands were squeezing her shoulders_ impossibly_ tightly as Phoebe and Paige clung to her for support.

And all the while, Leo merely waited, heart hardly beating as he gazed unwaveringly upon his now uninjured youngest son.

Healed.

Almost.

Only the intensely dark circles beneath his tightly closed eyes and his not-quite-white-but-not-so-far-off skin tone suggested there had ever been anything wrong.

But Leo spared those signs not another moment's thought.

Because the truth was there.

Staring at him.

Christopher Perry Halliwell-Wyatt.

His and Piper's baby boy …

The kid was out of danger now, at least.

Far from fine, that much was true … but the Sisters could breathe easy, if only for a few precious minutes …

He had done it. Though barely.

Piper had thrown her arms around his shoulders and was now sobbing into his shirt.

But he hardly noticed.

Phoebe and Paige were hugging each other, as they struggled to take in what was happening around them.

But he hardly noticed.

'_This is my Son._'

Chris was sleeping, now. Piper would no doubt start asking questions, in a minute, demanding to know why her youngest had yet to wake up.

But not yet.

He was spared the agony of explanations if only for a few moments.

That was enough for him.

Finally, Leo let the sting of tears break free from their boundaries. He gave in to the comforting embrace of his ex-wife, sinking to the floor and dragging her down with him. Not sure of anything else he could do right now, he simply held her.

And wept.

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

**Huge thanks to **Kitty-Witty-Kate, Blue Eyed Dragon Girl, sphinxgurl, Jhoi, neb92, History Buff 1990, angelkat2502, DimpleBulbo, Pandora of Ithilien, sylaine, charmedgrl4ever, onesmartgoalie, teal-lover, Twilight in my Eyes, running in circles, dreamgirl93, serendipity-surprise, MeaghanA, aerohead1980, Amantine, Larabiehn, incinera, Fhuhli the Crazy, DemonessLeader, PrInCeSsFBI, Hope Calaris, shyeye, SilverNM **and **Riker15!

**Dude, I _can't believe_ how many reviews I've been getting for this story! It means _so much_ to me that y'all are enjoying this as much as you are! It's wonderful to have such interest! Honestly, guys, I love you all! Please, _please_ keep it up! Drop us a review and let me know if you're still enjoying it!**

**Hugsies,  
****xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**


	8. Chapter 8

**Heaven Help Us  
By  
xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**

**----------------------**

**Disclaimer:** I still, still, still, still, still, still, _still_ own nothing … How many more times ?!! Sobs

**----------------------**

**Delay bad. Sorry.**

**Blame upload problems.**  
…  
**And new suicidal attitude … **

**I've kind of started with FanFic100 … Hee hee, isn't that hilarious ?!!!**  
…  
**I want to cry now, out of sheer stupidity.**

**Why does Martha (my Muse) **_**always**_** do this to me ?! GCSEs in **_**3 weeks**_**, plus 4 FanFictions, plus constant Artwork, plus contributions, and **_**now**_** plus FanFic100! I mean … she must **_**love**_** not having a life. 'Cause because of her, I sure as Hell don't have one!**

**Ahh well, I suppose writer's satisfaction is worth the trauma and sleepless nights … right?**

**AnyWho, enough of my mad rambling.  
Enjoy!**

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

_**You don't know a thing about my sins,  
How the misery begins.  
You don't know,  
So I'm burning, I'm burning**_

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

Time was ever passing.

Second after painful second.

Minute after dragging minute.

On and on and on …

The Grandfather clock standing majestically in the hallway chimed up towards them, the great, echoing song filtering up from the lower floors with tentative urgency.

Two O'clock, it crooned.

Yet another hour had passed beyond the Manor's red-stained walls, haunted dreams disturbing the once restful sleep of the Halliwell neighbours.

But _inside_ …

Well, time had been less kind.

It had reached a standstill, it seemed.

Those seconds had become torturous hours.

And those minutes were taking millennia to pass.

Even the great clock's chimes were sluggish and reluctant … almost as though it _wanted_ time to grind to a halt within its family home.

They drifted up the Oakwood staircase, their clipped and ringing tones flitting easily past room after room, bypassing the sleeping infant completely … making straight for the Attic.

And making for most of the Manor's inhabitants.

As the final chime sounded, the angelic sounds of orbing broke the sudden silence, and Paige reappeared in a flurry of bright white lights, standing beside Phoebe who looked up in hurriedly disguised anticipation.

"How is he?"

"Fine," Paige said, smiling fondly down upon the gathered group kneeling together on the Attic floor before her. "Still spark out, poor kid. It's amazing what that guy can sleep through!"

Phoebe almost smiled.

Almost.

"You don't think we should ring Sheila?"

Paige shook her head, her grin widening as she considered her sister's constantly apparent worrywart complex.

"Nah, what's the point? Wyatt's not in any danger, now that Zereph thinks Chris is … y'know …"

She trailed off, suddenly uncomfortable.

Phoebe nodded, her gaze shifting to her nephew's unconscious form as Paige moved across to stand beside her. Tears welled within her richly auburn eyes for a moment, before she blinked them away and turned to Piper and Leo.

"Fancy a cuppa?" she asked, falsely brightly, deciding to focus upon lightening up the mood a bit, rather than depressing it even further.

Leo sent her a sympathetic look through red-rimmed eyes and nodded, a weak smile tugging teasingly at the corners of his lips. She smiled back encouragingly and turned to the Halliwell Matriarch, too.

But Piper didn't respond.

Not so much as a blink of acknowledgement.

It appeared she only had eyes for her youngest, as she sat, cross-legged beside him, one hand enclosed around his own limp one while the other squeezed into Leo's as it searched for much needed support.

So instead, Leo nodded to Phoebe for her, sending a muted murmur of 'thanks' Phoebe's way before tightening his grip upon his emotional ex-wife.

And that was it.

Their focus was then solely upon their motionless son.

Paige, ever the optimist, raised her eyebrows in Phoebe's general direction, the smirk spreading across her face like wildfire as the fact that her nephew was alive again overwhelmed her.

"Want an orb?" she asked, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Phoebe restrained an eye roll with immense difficulty.

"Two words; Personal Gain. Ring any bells?"

Paige shrugged.

"Nyah, screw that. I reckon those know-it-all bigshots up there owe us _big_ time for keeping Leo away from us when we needed him."

Phoebe nodded, an irrational feeling of hatred pulsing through her veins as she thought over the last few hours.

Thought of all their fruitless screaming, all the failed attempts to reach their ex-brother-in-law.

Thought of the trouble that one stuck-up Elder had caused by keeping Leo from the one thing that kept him sane; his family.

"Yeah, you're right," she conceded, simply, nodding and extending her arm so that she could loop it around her youngest Sister's. "Come on, let's give them some privacy. I think they could do with it."

And with one final glance at the gathered family, they disappeared.

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

Piper sighed heavily, exhausted beyond belief as she gazed wearily down upon her sleeping son.

Much to her disguised relief, Leo had calmed slightly beside her. She spared him a glance, a tiny, strained smile splitting her sleep-deprived face as their eyes locked.

But he couldn't return it.

He simply sat there, face tear-streaked, eyes red and puffy, his gaze locked securely upon Chris' angelic face.

His heart fluttered.

"It's all my fault," he whispered, voice hoarse and overwrought.

Piper said nothing.

Leo _knew_ he had to try to defend himself ... try to make Piper understand …

But he couldn't.

There was no way to excuse his ignorance.

If he'd answered Piper's calls … if he'd only had the _guts_ to stand up for himself,_ none of this _would have happened!

Damn it! He didn't have the right to make excuses!

So instead, he remained silent.

Face down-cast, eyes leaking.

Unable to meet his ex-wife's eyes.

But Piper seemed to sense his self-loathing.

And felt the guilt welling up inside her, rearing its ugly head like a long-since-dormant snake.

Sighing again, she finally let her son's limp hand drop to the floor, and turned to face her ex-husband, reaching for_ his _hand, instead.

"What happened?" she asked simply.

Leo shrugged.

"I couldn't leave."

Piper restrained an eye-roll with immense difficulty.

"Well, we kinda gathered that," she said, that tiny smile stretching a little.

Leo sighed, too.

"Riana and I were working through battle plans," he muttered, still finding immense interest in the well-polished floor boards. "There's a Warlock on the loose, and he's out for the Menga Coven. We were trying to suss out his next plan of attack. Never got that far, though," he added, his voice distant and strained.

Piper nodded knowingly, her eyes reverting to their son, once more.

"And she wouldn't let you answer us."

Again Leo refused to meet her eyes.

But Piper didn't need him to.

It all made sense anyway.

"I take it she thought Chris would handle things if it turned out to be something bad."

Silence.

Those floorboards must have been _incredibly_ interesting, for Leo still couldn't tear his gaze from them.

Piper shrugged, no longer all that surprised.

No longer particularly interested.

She'd had enough of caring, now.

With another tiny sigh, they lapsed into silence, watching over the kid together but avoiding one another's gazes at the same time.

Until Piper's impatience overstepped her boundaries, that is.

"Why hasn't he woken up yet?" she half-demanded, half-pleaded, her eyes sweeping over his lifeless body in untarnished desperation. "Are you _sure_ he's alright? He's not ... not _dying_ again, is he?"

Leo, glad for a change of subject, quickly shook his head.

"He's fine," he reassured her. "It's just taking his body some time to realise he's safe, now. I thought he might have come round already, but if we consider the fact that he probably hasn't slept properly for days, then it's quite normal for his systems to need a bit longer to recuperate."

Piper half-nodded, tears leaking again.

"I should have known …" she whispered, mentally screaming at herself. "I'm a terrible mother!"

"_No_!"

And Leo was up, swinging an arm around her shoulders and dragging her towards him in a binding hug. "No, Piper," he repeated, softer this time, squeezing her arms lovingly, "you can't think like that! We couldn't have known! _No-one_ could have known! You know how good Chris is at keeping secrets! And you only need to _look_ at him to see just how wonderful a job you must have done raising him!"

But she was barely listening.

"Leo, I'm his _mother_! What kind of _mother_ can't even recognise her own _son_ ?!"

"Well if you want to play that game, what kind of _father__hits_ his own son ?!"

Silence.

Piper's jaw dropped open, her eyes wide in shock.

"Oh Leo, you _didn't_ … ?" she whispered, a hand flying to her mouth.

Leo flinched away, turning from mother and son to stare out of the Attic window instead.

"Right back at the start," he murmured, tone distant and vague as the memories flitted into his head. "I … I didn't believe him. I wanted to know … _why_, y'know? _Why_ he sent me to Valhalla … and things just … well, I lost it, a bit … too much fighting in that place, training to be a warrior does things to you … and, well … I guess _that_ side of me kinda took over for a minute …"

"And you hit him."

…

Leo couldn't keep the surprise from his face. He had to look up at her, then.

For Piper sounded so calm.

So grounded.

So controlled.

So … _not Piper_.

"Yes," he admitted, the shame burning deep within his soul.

…

And Piper just nodded, turning away once again.

"Help me move him onto the couch," she said, voice surprisingly strong, apparently completely forgetting everything they had just been talking about as she struggled to her knees and reached for Chris' hand.

While Leo could do nothing but gape at her.

How could she just _dismiss it_ ?! _Just like that_ ?!!

Dumbfounded, but also admittedly relieved that he'd received little more than a slap on the wrist, he hurried to Piper's side at once and gingerly lifted their unhealthily light youngest into his arms.

And onto the couch.

And the guilt bubbled up again.

He didn't deserve her forgiveness, did he?

He didn't deserve _anything_ from her. Nothing from Piper, nothing from the Sisters … and least of all, nothing from Chris.

He'd screwed up, big time.

And he had to face up to that.

Every single day.

Piper seemed to be reading his thoughts. Almost unnoticeably, she knelt down beside the couch and slipped her freezing hand into his.

"All we can do," she whispered, leaning her head against his shoulder and staring down at their baby boy, "is make sure we do _everything_ we can to start to make it up to him."

Leo half-nodded.

"S'pose so," he mumbled, squeezing her hand. "It'll probably never be enough, though. We'll _never_ be able to make it up to him totally, will we?"

The silence was spiralling, again.

And it was Piper's turn to shrug, this time.

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

**Sorry it's a bit shorter, today. Exam season. Must I say more? Sigh.**

**AnyWho, not my favourite chapter, but next up we'll see a bit more of Chris! That should be fun!**

**Mega massive thank you shouts to **dreamgirl93, neb92, Twilight in my Eyes, criminally charmed, angelkat2502, sailor cyanide, History Buff 1990, -Holly-Fan-1-, DimpleBulbo, aerohead1980, piperloveleoalways, SilverNM, Pandora of Ithilien, Fhulhi the Crazy, onesmartgoalie, Sakurabound, xcharmedgirl4evax, charmedgrl4ever, Sparrow317, petites sorcieres **and** Captain IF!

**Love ya, dudes! **

**Please review!  
Hugs,  
xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**


	9. Chapter 9

**Heaven Help Us  
By  
xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**

**----------------------**

**Disclaimer:** I still, still, still, still, still, still, still, _still_ own nothing …  
(Spits out obscenities wild enough to make evenGene Hunt's bad language seem like pure and pleasant compliments)

**----------------------**

**WooHoo! Quickish update! (Giddy Dance)  
Enjoy!**

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

_**You don't know a thing about my sins,  
How the misery begins.  
You don't know,  
So I'm burning, I'm burning**_

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

The Pain was Gone.

Not a hint.

Not a scratch.

Not an ache, or abrasion or a wound.

Not a sting.

Not a thing.

But …

_How_ was the pain gone?

Faint murmurs, tiny distortedly vague snatches of conversation were fluttering like flies around his ears, buzzing around his head with annoying consistency, each sentence wanting to be heard first.

But he ignored them all.

Instead, he wanted to focus upon figuring out where the pain had gone.

Because it had, indeed, vanished clean from existence.

Which was quite abnormal, especially with a wound of _that _size and seriousness.

And as far as he could tell, only his ramblingly random thoughts suggested that something was - or at least _had been_ - wrong with him.

Sighing mentally, Chris Halliwell struggled to face up to the facts; to take in the things about this situation that he _did_ know. As, granted, they seemed a little lacking at the moment, he rather hoped more would come to him.

If only he could clear away the sluggish fog that appeared to be making his mind into a hazy mush …

'_Oh, come on Chris, _focus!'

Right.

First things first.

There was a wonderful warmness rising up his right arm, leaving his fingers tingling pleasantly. Someone was holding his hand.

And now that he thought about it, he recognised that hand. He knew it all too well.

_Mom_.

So, Piper was there, then. What else did he know?

Well, second, there were _two_ voices around him; one male, one female.

Now, if the female voice was Piper, it made perfect sense that the male voice belonged to her ex-husband.

Yeah, good.

Piper Halliwell and Leo Wyatt were sitting beside him, and Piper was holding his hand while they held their own distortedly vague conversation. What else?

'Where he was' might be a good place to go to next.

So, the third thing. Whatever he was lying on, it was soft. Fabric.

Which quite clearly ruled out the floor where he _definitely_ knew he'd been before. Now, presumably, he was still in the Attic. And the only soft … well, soft_ish_ thing in the Attic was Aunt Pearl's old couch.

Yep, _that_ realisation meant he could now feel the moth-eaten cushions behind his head. One mental shudder and a grimace later, and the misty fog was beginning to diminish slightly.

Cool, _now _he was getting somewhere.

But even knowing all of this … knowing where he was and who was sitting beside him … it still didn't answer where all that excruciatingly painful pain had got to.

Oh, wait … _Leo_!

Leo was here!

Leo was an Elder!

He must have healed him!

His _father_ saved his life …

Chris, suddenly feeling unbearably hot around the collar, allowed a tiny, almost unnoticeable moan escape his dry lips before shooting upwards like a cork from a champagne bottle. The suddenness of the movement caught his parents by surprise, and poor Piper went flying, her hand sliding from his grasp as she landed hard against the polished floorboards.

"_Chris_?" she half gasped, the relief flooding through her like bottled poison gone wild. Chris was staring at her, his jade eyes wide, his expression soulful and urgent.

"Wh-what's _he_ doing here?" he stammered, pointing a trembling finger at his father.

Not exactly to Piper's surprise, Leo's face fell like a tonne of bricks.

Piper sighed, her gaze flickering momentarily over to her ex before she focussed her attention upon her son, once again.

"Chris he … Leo saved your life," she tried, unable to hide the small hint of patronising sarcasm as well as she'd hoped.

And much to her disguised delight, Chris had to restrain an eye roll with immense difficulty.

'_He's back_!' she thought happily.

"Yeah, I know," Chris murmured, now incredibly fascinated by the Book's pedestal. "That's why he shouldn't be here."

There was no avoiding it, this time.

Leo and Piper's exchanged looks were identically raised eyebrows. Right down to the tiny quirk of their mouths.

"Um, honey, do forgive me, I'm not entirely with you, but … why does the fact that he saved your life mean he shouldn't be here?" Piper's tones were softer now, filled with open curiosity as she shuffled back to his side and sat cross-legged beside him on the floor.

"I … I um… er, I don't want to talk about it," Chris forced out, jumping quite suddenly to his feet and scaring even Leo as he all but flew to the window.

The Moon was still shining.

So full. So beautiful.

Simply hanging there, hanging high from her lofty perch, just smiling down at him …

"Well tough, because I _do_ want to talk about it."

Chris winced, hearing the bite behind his soon-to-be-mother's words. It reminded him of the many vibrant and excitingly different scoldings that he and his brother received on an almost daily basis back home …

Or at least, back when he'd _had_ a home …

"What did you mean, Chris?"

Chris sighed heavily and turned around to face her, still refusing to meet Leo's eyes.

But Leo got there first.

"It's because of how I found you."

It wasn't a question. And Chris' stony silence was all the verification Leo needed.

Piper immediately turned to him, her eyes narrowed.

"Why? What happened when you found him, Leo?" she demanded, rising to her feet, all the better to stand there with her arms folded and look menacing.

It worked, for Leo started talking.

"Well, when I went after Chris' spirit, he -"

"Say one more word and I'm out of here," Chris broke in, eyes still riveted to anything but his parent's faces.

"Leo?" Piper called, her brisk tones ringing around the Attic quite melodramatically. Leo winced.

Damnit, he was _always_ in the middle!

It sure did suck being a Pacifist.

He opened his mouth knowing full well he was condemning himself to at least a year of silent treatment and resentment from his youngest, but this time it was Chris' turn to beat him to the punch.

"_I didn't want to come back_!"

Silence.

The words were reverberating around the Attic.

They fluttered out through the half open door, wrapping themselves around all three of the Sisters' senses until the air was distorted with a scattering of iridescent blue lights, the silence disturbed by the smashing of a hastily abandoned cup somewhere downstairs followed by the tinkling of orbs.

Piper and Leo were staring at Chris with wide eyes, tears welling in the former's eyes as she practically _begged_ Chris to debunk his declaration before it could break her heart.

Neither paid any attention to Paige and Phoebe's jingling appearance.

But they too didn't seem to care.

"_What_?" Paige whispered, staring at her now fully awake nephew with a look that quite plainly said 'lie to me again and feel my wrath'.

Ahh, the Irony. Even _now_ they still had to believe that he was lying.

Chris shrugged and struggled to focus his attentions upon the potions cabinet beside him, rejecting point blank to meet anyone's gaze at all.

But then deciding the cabinet wasn't really interesting enough, he gave it up as a bad job and sank to the floor instead, leaning hard against the window seat with his legs drawn up into his chest, his chin resting on top of them as he stared out at nothing.

Leaving the silence to spiral horrifically around him.

The tenseness of the atmosphere could probably have been sliced through if he'd had the energy to try it.

But he _didn't_.

So he didn't bother trying it.

He was just … just _so sick_ of this!

Why, _oh why_ hadn't he followed his instincts ?! Why did he insist upon putting himself through this torture? Why couldn't he just _give up_ ?! _Just once _in his entire life!

Damnit, he really _was_ a martyr.

'_Thanks a lot, Wy,_' he thought glumly, sighing heavily. '_It's thanks to you that I've _got_ this Goddamn guilt complex. If I survive this, you owe me _big time'

… …

The hush was creepily thick, now.

Phoebe, sensing Piper's turmoil, hurried to her eldest sister's side and placed a reassuring hand upon Piper's trembling shoulder, squeezing it gently and staring out at her nephew through tears of her own.

"I didn't want to come back," he muttered again, half laughing, a small smile dancing at the edges of his lips. "Can't wonder why, can you?"

Almost tactfully, nobody spoke. They simply stared at him.

Ignoring their silence, Chris elaborated, feeling faintly as though he was talking to himself while he considered his fingernails. Anything to avoid looking at _them_ … Anything to avoid looking at _her …_

Because he couldn't face Piper. No way.

Facing his Aunts was bad enough.

But facing his father … facing his _mother_ …

No, not possible. Not even _remotely_ possible.

So he stared at - and spoke to - his hands, instead.

"I mean, I've got a _wonderful_ life, me. Peace, quiet, a loving family, a great brother. Absolutely _no reason whatsoever_ to suggest I might just have _possibly_ have had enough of it."

"Chris -"

His voice rising, Chris forced himself to ignore his mother's muted plea. A part of him was beginning to feel incredibly guilt-ridden, right about now. Damn that guilt complex! He new damn well that once he'd finished this, he was going to regret it for the rest of his life.

But he just couldn't stop himself.

So many months … it was all just … just _way_ to much now. He'd had enough.

"Yeah, I've had an _amazing _life. No arguments, no distrust, no hatred. I don't annoy everyone I meet. I _don't_ get nothing but grief and dirty looks from my family. I _don't_ come across as an obsessed workaholic twenty-four-seven just because I ask for my Mom and Aunts to chase after a demon that's after my big brother. I don't seem neurotic and irritating, I'm _not_ a nuisance. And I _don't_ have the entire weight of the world resting upon my aching shoulders and yet worry that I'm still not doing enough to help. Hey, my life's a _breeze_ when you look at it like that, isn't it?"

And on that note, Chris fell momentarily silent, a tiny sigh escaping his lips before he shrugged half-heartedly.

"Ahh well, the show must go on. I'll thank you Leo. Seeing as how I owe you my life." He paused, frowning, and then snorted derisively. "Hell, there really _is_ a first time for everything, isn't there? Call it quits. I suppose you saving me makes up for me never seeing you."

And before anyone could stop him, Chris was gone, a flurry of sparkling turquoise and white lights engulfing the twenty-one year old within the space of a few tiny seconds.

And the silence inside the Attic was absolute.

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

The wind was howling, now.

Hours before, it had been a gentle breeze, disturbing the quiet and peaceful stillness of Prescott Street with the occasional rustle of leaves.

He could remember everything, it seemed. No hazy moments of nothingness, no missing minutes, no absent blanks – nope, all of the gaps were filled in completely.

Each gap giving him a new 'need-to-do' that he was going to have to get down to doing sooner or later.

…

_Zereph_ was on his to-do list, he realised after a moment. Actually, right at the _very top _of his to-do list.

But right now, _right here_, Chris didn't give a damn.

He didn't have the energy to feel hatred anymore. He didn't have the energy to feel _anything_ anymore.

In fact, quite the opposite.

He felt numb.

From inside to out, Chris was numb. His very _soul _was frozen.

And Zereph thought he was dead. So he could wait a while, right?

Right.

Deciding that the _rest_ of his to-do list could also wait a while, Chris shivered against the howling, biting wind and curled up against the support beam, staring out at the twinkling lights of the night-time cityscape stretching out before him.

Staring out at his once-home.

But he didn't belong there, anymore.

He didn't belong _anywhere_, anymore.

Who knows? Maybe he never had.

One solitary tear streaking an ice-ridden path down his frozen cheek, Chris made sure his blocking powers were working perfectly, knowing full well that he couldn't handle speaking to the Halliwell Sisters again any time soon.

He couldn't take yet another emotional blow.

Not now.

Not on top of everything else.

He just needed time to think. Time to clear his head, to sort himself out. Just _time to__think_!

_Surely_ they'd respect that?

Chris have grinned, picturing the Sisters of his own time with vivid clarity.

Yeah right, like the 'Power of Three' ever waited for _anything_, least of all an angst-ridden son who wanted space and time to himself. That was probably the _last_ thing they'd give him, back home.

If indeed, he'd ever had a home.

Thinking back, imagining his life before all this, before the Hell that had been his brother's turning, before the realisation that Piper Halliwell was only human and could be struck down so easily, he could remember very little about his 'home'.

He just … God, he didn't belong _anywhere_, did he? No matter what he was doing, he was always an outcast. Always the one stood on the sidelines while everyone else jumped in all guns blazing.

Always the one who was expected to be level headed and pluck out an amazing solution from thin air even if the odds were frightfully against him.

Here in the Past. There in the Future. Things never changed.

And Chris was dearly beginning to wish he'd taken his 'get out of jail free' card the moment it had been handed over to him.

Thinking about it now, Death seemed an awful lot more appealing than returning back to the Future. Returning to Wyatt and his cracked God-of-the-World regime.

But Chris now knew for a fact that he could no longer stay here.

He'd long since outstayed his welcome.

So going 'home' was his only other option.

Wow. It seemed Chris _could_ be a quitter after all. He'd wondered why he couldn't just _'give up'_.

Well … _just once_, for the first time in his life, it appeared his was about to.

When it came down to facing his brother's wrath and fighting for his life on a daily basis, or facing his _mother_ – his _living, breathing, real_ mother - who knew the complete and utter truth after so many months of desperate concealment … well, he'd take the 'fighting for his life' deal any day.

After all, he'd been doing it his whole life.

A few more days wouldn't really make all that much of a difference, now, would they?

And knowing his brother as well as he did, 'a few days' was probably all he'd be able to secure for himself.

Hell, who knew? Maybe Wyatt would have mercy upon his baby brother's tortured soul and end Chris' torment the moment he stepped back through that portal.

Well … there was only one way to find out.

He was going home.

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

**Dun dun dun!  
Well, will Chris **_**really**_** be able to do that? Can he give up? Who's gonna intervene? Who's gonna change his mind and smack a bit of much needed sense into his gorgeous head?  
...  
You'll just have to wait and see! (Sigh) I'm evil, am I not? Hee hee …**

**AnyWho,  
How awesome are you? So **_**beyond**_** awesome! All these wonderful reviewers … my heart goes out to each and every one of you! Have a cyber-cookie! On the house!**

**Thanksies to **xcharmedgirl4evax DimpleBulbo, scme, angelkat2502, Captain IF, fairyofmusic, piperloveleoalways, onesmartgoalie, Plutobaby494, JayneyHunter, aerohead1980, Marcus1233, lizardmomma, dgeo98, HPSmallCharm29, Fhulhi the Crazy **and **Fae Child19!

**Once again, please review!  
Reviews make me update _much_ quicker!  
**

**Hugest of huge hugs,  
xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**


	10. Chapter 10

**Heaven Help Us  
By  
xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**

**----------------------**

**Disclaimer:** I still, still, still, still, still, still, still, still, _still_ own nothing … (Sigh) Is anybody else getting bored of hearing this? It's a tad monotonous … a bit repetitive … a lot annoying …

**----------------------**

**Sorry for the delay – Exam season's hit with a vengeance! I've survived 3 Art exams and a French Oral so far … only another nineteen to go, then …**

**Hard one to write, this one, so sorry if it sucks …**

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

_**You don't know a thing about my sins,  
How the misery begins.  
You don't know,  
So I'm burning, I'm burning**_

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

The clock struck three.

Three o'clock in the morning.

_Three AM_ and there was still no sign of him …

Piper sighed heavily and considered the swirling contents of the mug in front of her. The tears had ceased their seemingly endless flow, but their white and snaking tracks still remained, glistening against her ashen skin.

A crash from above had her jumping to her feet, only just managing to catch her cup before it was sent flying skywards.

"Chris," she murmured. Bolting for the stairs, she managed to make it up to the second floor landing before she spotted Leo's head smiling sheepishly at her from inside Wyatt's nursery.

"Sorry, it's just me," he said, frowning at her suddenly crest-fallen expression. "Wyatt doesn't seem to like his new teddy-bear, and a photo frame's just paid the price for it."

"Oh," she sighed, trying to smile back but her attempt looking more like a grimace. "Okay."

She paused, uncertain.

And then shrugged, turning and heading back for the kitchen again.

Tentatively small step after tentatively small step…

"Um, where are Phoebe and Paige?" Leo asked, worried by his ex-wife's melancholy mood. Maybe if he could get her talking …

"Attic," she replied simply.

Not even sparing him a glance.

Leo half-nodded.

"Why don't you go and see if they've found him?"

Piper shrugged again.

"What's the point? He doesn't want to see us. We've hurt him, and now he's suffering. He's out there, all on his own at this time of the night, in _this weather_, and he'd rather face the cold than accept help from us. Let's face it, Leo. He _hates_ us!"

Leo spotted the welling tears before she could turn away and felt his heart break.

Hurrying forwards, sparing a glance for his son before closing the door to, he reached out for her shoulder and gently spun her to face him.

"No," he said firmly, shaking his head adamantly.

She _had _to understand, damnit!

"He _doesn't_! He _loves_ you! And you _know_ that because of the pain he was in. It may sound horrible, but the more it hurts, the more he feels for you."

"Yeah, but Leo, he shouldn't _have_ to be hurting like that!" Piper cried, the tears falling thick and fast for what had to have been the tenth time that evening. Wiping furiously at her eyes, she avoided his gaze, sighing heavily. "I just think we've screwed things up one too many times, this time."

Leo, loathe to agree with her, said nothing.

And Piper took his silence as harshly as though he'd just slapped her in the face.

"God, we really _have_, haven't we?" she whispered, mortified, a hand flying to her mouth in despair.

Again, Leo remained mute.

He couldn't _lie_ to her.

But he couldn't bring himself to voice it, either.

Couldn't bring himself to see the horror and sadness within her eyes as she realised just how badly they'd messed things up.

Not that it was really _her_ who had messed things up, mind.

No, he'd managed that one brilliantly, all by himself …

Sighing, he stared at her for a moment, contemplating.

But before he could speak, Piper had blinked and turned away, sniffing a little but otherwise struggling to keep composed.

With trembling shoulders, she abandoned what had been left of her 'coffee break' and made straight for her son's room, instead. Leo watched her disappear in silence, debating with himself whether or not he should follow her in there or simply leave her to it.

Both options had their merits, thinking about it.

Choosing to meet half way, he shuffled over to the doorway and pushed it open slightly, leaning against the frame and playing a mental game of Yes and No, as he searched for a courage he didn't feel he possessed in great quantities right at this particular moment in time.

Should he go over and console her?

Or should he leave her to her thoughts?

Did she _want_ to hear his false words of encouragement and optimism?

Or did she want to face up to reality and take the current situation as it was presented? Which, right now, was pretty much everything _but_ amazingly wonderful …

Again, Leo could only curse his pacifist side.

If only he could do something that didn't involve seeing the pain and worry in her eyes.

The pain and worry that he could bear to see.

_If only_ he could magically take her fears away.

Magically make everything alright again.

… …

But he couldn't.

Only _Chris_ could do that.

And _right now_, _that_ was probably as likely as the Sun shining through the curtains despite the early morning hours.

So what could he do?

… …

Maybe make a cuppa?

Yeah. Tea could usually solve things.

Things would look _a lot_ better after a friendly drink.

… …

And the caffeine might do her some good, too …

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

"Anything?"

"Nothing."

Paige threw the pipette back into the potions bowl and sighed heavily, slapping her hands against her thighs with a grimace.

"Zip. Nada. Zilch."

Phoebe sighed too, the pad of paper she'd held onto for what felt like hours finally retiring to the table beside her. Eyes aching, she closed them and cradled her head in her hands, leaning on her elbows and trying to drown out the sound of the slowly simmering cauldron.

But she couldn't.

_Fruitless_, damnit!

"We've gotta hand it to him," Paige murmured, disturbing Phoebe's search for solitude with a gentle chinking of potions bottles as she searched for a new ingredient.

"What?" Phoebe muttered back vaguely, only half listening.

"Well, he sure knows how to protect himself. I mean, if the _Power of Three_ can't find him …"

But much to her annoyance, her sister could only snort derisively in response.

"Paige, come on, he's grown up hiding from the 'Evil Overlord of the Universe' for God knows how many years! And said 'Evil Overlord of the Universe' also happens to be his big brother. _Of course_ he's gotta be able to look after himself!"

Paige stuck her tongue out behind her sister's back, playing innocent ten-year-old as her crankiness began to take its toll.

But thankfully, Phoebe didn't seem to notice.

"Plus he's Piper's son. With the added bonus of Orbing and Blocking from Leo's dead-but-handy genes -"

"Which is probably great for him, but annoying for _us_ when we want to _find_ him," Paige finished, restraining a broad grin with difficulty, despite her thirty-odd hours of deprived sleep.

Sinking into a chair and curling a stray lock of hair around her index finger, she half-shrugged, her smirk widening.

"I think I love my nephew," she sighed fondly.

Phoebe laughed softly, but said nothing.

Silence fell between them.

Almost awkward, for once.

Clicking her tongue impatiently, Phoebe rubbed at her eyes tiredly and sighed again.

"I just hope he's alright. I mean, if he's still able to block us, then he must be _physically_ alright, but he wasn't in such high spirits when he left, was he?"

"And lookin' at the storm that's rolling in, I'd say his mood is getting worse," Paige added, staring absent-mindedly out of the window.

The moon was still shining.

Still winking invitingly out at them from her lofty perch.

But there was a hazy mist of cloud beginning to dance around her as the minutes ticked by.

Shrouding her glowing beauty like a veil.

And she more than likely had Chris Halliwell to thank for that.

A beat.

"You don't think he'd do anything … _stupid_, do you?" Paige whispered fearfully, hearing the distant rumbles of what was unmistakably thunder and immediately dreading the worst.

Phoebe said nothing.

She didn't have to.

Because somebody had beaten her to it.

"I dunno," came a soft reply from the half-open doorway. "Do you think I _could_ do anything stupid?"

… …

Stunned silence.

Before the potions bottles went smashing to the floor with a heart-stopping crash.

And the small table, complete with previously simmering cauldron, soon joined them.

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

"What the Hell was that?" Piper demanded, red-rimmed eyes seeking out Leo's as both jumped up from Wyatt's side.

Leo was infinitely grateful that Piper's mug was on the bedside table.

Because, had it been in her hand, it would have been another smashed mug that was slowly staining the carpets. How many cups had they lost that night? He'd lost count …

"Sounded like it came from upstairs," he put in helpfully, sparing a nervous glance for his now thankfully calming son before staring up at the ceiling as though he could see straight through it.

"_Right_," Piper muttered, slamming her heel against the floorboards and exhaling heavily, _willing_ herself to calm down.

But it didn't work.

Not even _vaguely_.

"That's it! I've had just about all I can take right now, and if that's _another _freakin' demon out for our blood I swear to God I'm gonna blow its ass straight into the future so it can meet the next Source first hand!"

"Piper? You're not breathing," Leo called after her retreating back, shaking his head in exasperation.

"Nope!" she shouted back, otherwise ignoring him as she all but stomped up the stairs towards the Attic."

Sighing, Leo patted Wyatt's blond curls fondly, smiling down upon his finally sleeping son, and struggled to his feet, following after his ex-wife at a slightly less imposing pace.

Well … that _was_, of course, until he heard her cry.

"_Chris_!"

… …

He must have forgotten he could orb.

Just like he'd forgotten his two-year-old son who was now sleeping unguarded.

It was their good fortune the kid could protect himself.

But Wyatt was one of the last things on his mind, right now.

In fact, it was Wyatt's _brother_ who was concerning him the most.

And without another thought, Leo bolted.

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

Stung slightly by Paige's assumption, Chris couldn't help but glare at her.

Not only did they think he was a liar, but he was profoundly known for doing '_stupid things_' as well!

Damnit, he was _supposed_ to be their _nephew_! And all they could do was insult him?

But he soon regretted looking at her. Just as he'd known he would.

Because when he looked at her, and _properly_ looked at her, she was wearing a look of pure relief.

A look of pure delight.

She thought he'd returned.

She thought he'd come home.

And so did Phoebe, he realised with a tiny glance at the middle Sister witch.

They were grinning at him, eyes glistening with unshed tears of joy. Clearly overwhelmed by his presence but delighted by it at the same time.

And _now_, this was going to be even harder.

With an internal sigh of defeat, Chris could only thank the Heavens that Piper wasn't –

"_Chris_!"

Oh …

Too late …

"No," he half-whispered, stalking away from the doorway with lightning reflexes to avoid an unwanted conversation with his mother. Without lifting his gaze even once from the floorboards, Chris stopped beside the pedestal and began flicking with fevered desperation through the Book of Shadows.

Blinking the tears away, he completely blanked Phoebe and Paige, who had jumped to their feet and were now standing beside Piper, possibly hoping to provide support for the Halliwell Matriarch who looked as though her legs would go at any moment.

Which was fine.

If they were all stood together, then he wouldn't have to look at them.

_If he could just avoid looking at the doorway_ …

"Chris, what are you doing? Where _were_ you?"

Chris heard the hitch in his mother's voice, and his resolve was sorely crumbling into dust around him. But he_ couldn't_! He _couldn't_ stay here any longer!

Not even for _her_ …

"Chris, _please_," Phoebe murmured, feeling Piper's emotions bubbling like poison beneath her skin and biting back against the onslaught of feelings.

Chris said nothing.

'_Just look for the spell._'

"What are you looking for?" he heard Paige ask, without glancing up. "Maybe we could help," she added thoughtfully, biting on her lower lip but otherwise managing to remain in control.

Unsurprisingly, Chris ignored her.

'_The next page … the next one … _surely_ it's the next one?_'

… …

"You're cold."

And Chris couldn't help it.

He _had_ to look up, that time.

For there was Leo, eyes crinkled into a faint smile as he gazed avidly at Chris' shivering form, playing the knowledgeable doctor card and hoping it might work.

Damn.

The whole freakin' family was here, now! Only Wyatt was missing. Hell, Chris was pretty much waiting for _him_ to orb up here and put in his two cents' worth, too! After all, it wouldn't be the first time …

With nothing more than sheer willpower, Chris blinked, a small groan of despair escaping his quivering lips before he could stop it, and lowered his gaze to the Book again.

'_The next page … the next page … the next page …_"

It had become almost a mantra, now.

_Anything at all_ to avoid thinking about _them_ …

"_Damnit Chris Halliwell_!"

And the next thing he knew, small arms were securing themselves around his neck, anchoring him to their owner in a furious bear-hug.

"_No_!" he shouted, trying weakly to tug away from her, but Piper simply refused to budge an inch.

And his struggles were rendered useless when three more pairs of arms decided to spring out of nowhere and engulf him.

God … this wasn't helping …

He' expected _someone_ to be in the Attic. When _wasn't_ there somebody up here?

Hell, he could probably have handled _one_ of them. _Leo_ would have been nice. He could avoid Leo easily – he'd been doing it for near on fifteen years.

But even _just one_ of his Aunts and he'd have gotten out of there without _too_ much emotional trauma …

But _this_?

No, this just wasn't fair.

He should have waited. Granted, it _was_ three in the morning, so they _should_ have been asleep by now.

Yet still he should have given it a day or so. Waited until _tomorrow night_, maybe.

Chris mentally sighed, admitting to himself the reality … even though he hated it.

He wouldn't have been able to. He wouldn't have survived another night out there, not with his emotions haywire and his powers on the blink. Another hour up on that bridge and one of the greatest storms ever to hit San Francisco would have been global news.

And yet _now_ he was paying the price for his impatience.

And paying dearly.

"I can't do this anymore," he moaned, voice barely distinguishable, forcing the pricking at his eyes to diminish. "I just want to go home."

Piper sighed.

He could feel her warm breath against his neck.

Goosebumps erupted, the hairs standing on end, but he ignored them.

"Honey, you _are_ home," she replied, tones thick with tears but a small chuckle managing to escape, nevertheless.

Chris vehemently shook his head.

"No, no I'm not. This isn't working. And it's not like I'm helping. Just making things worse! And I've had enough of it all now, had enough of being the enemy, of being the one who screws up all the time! I'd rather fight for my life everyday in an environment I recognise than waste my time and make an ass of myself in a place where I'm not even wanted!"

"Oh, Chris, how can you say that?" Paige pleaded, ruffling his hair slightly.

Yet again, Chris said nothing.

Merely shrugged disinterestedly, glancing almost wistfully at the Book. At the page it was open on.

At the page he dearly needed.

At the spell that could send him home …

Shaking her head disapprovingly, Paige broke away and manoeuvred herself around so that she was standing beside the Book.

She raised a steady hand, eyes sparkling.

And Chris glowered at her.

"You wouldn't dare," he whispered dangerously.

Much to his relief, Piper, Leo and Phoebe had finally stepped away too, partly for fear of suffocating him and partly to see just what Paige was up to …

And Piper smiled gratefully, overlooking the mutinous gleam in her son's eyes as she spotted the defiance burning with equal measure in her sister's.

With one swift movement Paige slammed it shut, feeling Chris' eyes glaring into the side of her head in horror. Raising her hand and stepping back slightly, she shot him a warning smile.

"_You_, mister, are not going _anywhere_!"

Much to their delight, he seemed rather flustered.

More than certainly wrong-footed by her actions; his mortified eyes narrowed and a desperate glance at the wall spared before his glare returned full measure.

Grinning, Phoebe took advantage of his momentary lapse, and smacked him playfully on the arm.

"You dared her, honey," she practically sang. "_Never_ dare your Aunt Paige. She's a sucker for a bet."

Chris made to step forwards and grab for the Book, but again, Paige beat him to it.

"_Book_!" she shouted, arms outstretched.

The precious family heirloom was enveloped in sparklingly bright white lights for a moment, before it vanished from sight with the customary twinkling sound.

Leaving a stunned silence to dispel itself into nothingness as the Attic prepared for the outburst.

… …

"_What the Hell was that for?_"

"I told you," Paige replied calmly, walking over to Piper's side and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You're not going anywhere. So if you're not going anywhere, you don't need the Book. And if you don't need the Book, then there's no need for it to be up here with us."

And Chris could only stare at her, unknowingly shivering as the cold ate into his skin, his eyes wide and a faint hint of admiration shining deep within them.

_Reluctant_ admiration, but admiration all the same.

Much to his annoyance, Phoebe was stifling a laugh as she stood beside him, a fist stuffed into her mouth to keep said laugh from escaping.

And much to _her _annoyance, her ribs felt as if they were paying the price.

Almost certain that two had already cracked from the pressure of holding it in, she turned away and headed for the staircase, shooting Leo a warm smile as she passed by.

The click of her heels slowly faded, and with a dazzlingly cheeky grin – a certified 'Paige Matthews' grin – in Chris' general direction, Paige orbed out after her, leaving Piper and Leo behind to bare their son's wrath.

And both Phoebe and Paige could only pray - as they made straight for the kitchen and the reassuring warmth of a strong cup of coffee, before they departed for their respective spouses – that when they returned tomorrow, Halliwell Manor would still have a roof.

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

**Thank you to **neb92, criminally charmed, Rosalene, Riker15, Plutobaby494, peppymint, dreamgirl93, piperloveleoalways, DimpleBulbo, angelkat2502, Marcus1233, Kylelara, HPSmallCharm29, xcharmedgirl4evax onesmartgoalie, charmedgrl4ever, Sparrow317, Fae Child19, SilverNM, aerohead1980, lizardmomma, forestwife, teal-lover, Twilight in my EyesPandora of Ithilien** and **Maureen!

**Can't really promise a quick update, now. For the next four weeks (not including the week off I'll get about a fortnight from now) I'm gonna be a bit tied up with revision. But when and where I can, I promise to get on with writing the next chappie! Sorry 'bout that, but I thought it best to warn y'all.**

**Thanksies again!**

**Mega hugs!  
xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**


	11. Chapter 11

**Heaven Help Us  
By  
xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**

**----------------------**

**Disclaimer:** I still, still, still, still, still, still, still, still, still, _still_ own nothing …

**----------------------**

**Hi! Not too long of a wait. And this week's my own so I'll probably be able to update again before I'm back at school next week. Still, we'll see, yeah? Not promising anything … just feeling relatively hopeful …**

**Bit of light-heartedness in last chapter … no such luxury with this one, I'm afraid. My Muse is feeling depressed … (Sigh)**

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

_**You don't know a thing about my sins,  
How the misery begins.  
You don't know,  
So I'm burning, I'm burning**_

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

The mood had considerably lightened over the past few minutes, mainly thanks to Paige's genius alone.

Even cranky, she could pull an amazingly simple solution out of nowhere.

For which Piper was immensely grateful.

But the minutes were passing by.

Trickling passed as though falling through a gigantic hourglass, the grains of time hitting the base with deafening crashes, one by one.

Second by second.

Minute after minute.

And Chris' mood, though far from brilliant even _with_ his Aunts in the room, was beginning to worsen.

She could sense his inner turmoil, _feel _his despairing desire to leave them, to go home.

And Piper was beginning to hate herself for denying him of his wish.

He _didn't want_ to stay with them.

And that knowledge alone hurt so much that as the minutes continued to pass by in silence, her occasional glance at either Leo or Chris procuring no speech from her speechless throat, she was becoming increasingly less obliged to remain in the same room as him.

She couldn't take his pain.

Not as a mother.

No mother should _ever _have to feel their child hurting so much.

No child should ever be hurting so much, _period_.

It just wasn't fair …

"Damnit, I can't take this!"

Jumping slightly and blinking, Piper glanced up to see Chris running an irritated hand through his hair.

'_He needs a hair cut,_' Piper mused vaguely, before her eyes sought out his and her heart ached at the look of abject desperation that was adorning his worn and weathered features.

"Why can't you just _accept_ it? Why can't you just let me go home?" he asked of her, rising from his seated position against the pedestal and wandering aimlessly to the window, his back resolutely to them.

The storm was moving in, he realised, catching sight of a blackened cloud hanging sheepishly over the street.

Yet he still refused to quench his uncontrollable emotions.

He couldn't.

The anger, the fear, the aching, burning, _searing_ love towards his parents and yet hatred of them for keeping him here at the same time … they were eating away at his insides.

Eating away at them so vigorously he wanted to scream.

But he couldn't.

So the storm raged on, his only available outlet against the blitz of emotions inside his chest.

Inside his very _soul_.

"Chris, we _need_ you," Piper replied softly, her watery tears threatening to spill over her pale cheeks.

Brushing at her eyes roughly, she forced them back.

Chris laughed hollowly, the sound eerie and unnatural as the tense atmosphere became almost suffocating.

Shuddering, Piper shared an anxious glance with Leo, who was yet to contribute to their fast becoming heated argument.

Damn Pacifists ...

"Me? _Needed_? Don't think so, somehow," Chris shot back, eyes downcast.

"But you _are_," Piper insisted, jumping to her feet at last, abandoning the old couch and taking a tentative couple of steps towards her hurting son.

The sounds of crying echoed up towards them from the first floor, and Chris sighed heavily.

"Oh Hell," Leo murmured, staring at Piper apologetically.

Piper, in turn, stared at the doorway, sorely tempted to run to the aid of her young eldest.

After all, she could probably look at baby Wyatt without hating herself …

"I'll be right back."

Oh.

Too late.

Leo had beaten her to it.

A second later, the jingling sound of orbs offset the illuminating blue and white lights that lit up the room briefly, before they filtered out of existence.

And Leo was gone.

'_Coward_,' Chris thought spitefully, shaking his head.

Some things would never change …

And the same could be said for Piper's stubbornness.

For Chris was more than fully aware that despite how much she may blame herself for his desire to go, and despite how much she may hate herself for refusing to let him leave, she still wasn't going to back down.

Not even a tiny bit.

Her resolutions were set, and they'd been set in stone.

Chris was screwed …

"And what about _him_, Chris?" Piper asked, snapping him out of his spiralling thoughts.

"What about _who_?" he asked back, still refusing to look at her.

If he didn't _look_ at her, he'd be fine … right?

If he didn't _look_ at her ... he could handle this.

"Wyatt. Your _brother_, Chris! Remember him?"

Chris snorted.

"Well, when he's left his mark on you on countless occasions, marks so distinctive that they could sicken even a masochist's sadistic mind, I think it's safe for you to say he's a pretty hard person to forget."

Piper's breath hitched, but not a sound escaped her lips.

Instead, her tones softer this time as she stared at his shivering back in concern, she asked softly, "can you really give up on him? Can you really leave now, knowing you haven't changed anything?"

Chris sighed.

"You'd take care of him."

But he didn't sound entirely convinced.

Piper raised her eyebrows.

"Who says we will? If you leave, why should _I_ pick up the pieces?"

"He's your _son!_" Chris replied, tones incredulous. She wasn't _really_ suggesting what he _thought_ she was … was she?

"He's _your_ brother," she retorted, eyes gleaming. "If you decide to go without completing your 'mission', I don't see why it should be left to us to finish it for you."

Chris turned on his heel, finally angry enough to stare directly at her.

As the anger helped him to forget how hard it was to face her.

Feeling fury bubbling beneath his veins, he narrowed his eyes, ignoring the sweeping cold that was beginning to blanket his weakened body.

"So you're _saying_ … that you'd willingly _let_ the future fall to pieces just to prove a _point_?!" he demanded of her, shaking with rage as well as cold now.

Internally horrified, Piper's expression remained passive.

"If needs be," she said firmly. "So if you really _want_ the future to improve, you're just going to have to stick around and accomplish it yourself, aren't you?"

Chris was speechless.

She'd readily sacrifice her Twice Blessed just to get back at him … She'd readily sacrifice the _entire future_ just to prove a point …

"That's low," he murmured, eyes blazing. "That's _really_ low, Piper."

Piper couldn't help it that time.

The gasp escaped her.

As did the horror that was soon welling like wildfire within her auburn orbs.

'_That's really low, Piper._'

'… _Piper …_'

'… Piper! …'

Struggling to regain her lost composure, feeling her heart shattering to dust beneath her ribs, she ignored the welling tears and turned away.

"Yeah, well …" she mumbled, but fell stonily silent, suddenly at a loss for what to say.

Chris sighed too, turning his back on her and slapping a hand against his forehead.

Damnit, why did he _always_ do it?

What in the name of Hell had possessed him? What made him say _that_?!

"I'm sorry … mom …" he whispered, studying the clouds that were rolling in as his desire to run over and hug her, to apologise a thousand times and then a thousand times more became somewhat overwhelming.

Piper said nothing.

She wandered back over to the couch and sank into it, overbearingly exhausted, all of a sudden. With another heavy sigh, she sat with her head resting on her hands, her elbows sitting precariously atop her drawn up knees, and stared off into space.

Chris shook his head, refusing to submit …

Because if he gave in … if he went over to comfort her … he'd _never_ be able to get away from here.

Instead, he watched as the first smidgens of rain began their horrendous descent from the blackened heavens.

His powers were well and truly out of control, now.

He wouldn't be able to pull them back even if he'd wanted to …

"Look, I know you hate it here, but is it _really_ necessary for you to destroy the city before you go?"

Chris gasped, clenching his fists and finally tearing his gaze from the pounding droplets of rain that were slamming hard against the Attic window.

With bated breath, he stared at his mother through tormented eyes.

"What?" he asked, voice barely above a croaked whisper.

"You heard," she replied monotonously, absently contemplating the far wall.

… …

Chris was thrown.

Had she … had she just _caved_?

Was she willing to let him go?!

"Mom -"

But his confusion was short lived when a moment later, she climbed dejectedly to her feet and left the Attic.

Chris stood, motionless, staring at the wide-open doorway, not quite sure as to what had just happened.

A moment later, she was back, only this time holding the Book in her arms.

With a soft sniffle, she placed it delicately upon its stand and began flicking through the pages, her melancholy mood unwittingly infectious.

Chris felt the tears pricking at his eyes, but was still unsure as to what was going on.

Outside the window, the harsh storm was dying down ever so slightly, mere _minutes_ after springing into life.

Oh.

It seemed he _did_ still have a little control over his emotions ...

The howling wind had quietened down a little, and the rain wasn't pummelling the windows any more.

Piper glanced up as a sudden hush fell over the Attic, momentarily surprised by the lack of raging-weather sounds.

With a small smile, she spotted Chris' slightly calmer expression, his hands no longer clenched and tears of his own springing into his eyes.

Choking back a sob, she returned her attention to the Book.

"Is that the Spell?" she asked sadly after a few silent minutes, voice unsteady.

Chris remained still for a moment, half-delighted, half-horrified that she was even asking that question.

And the answer he finally did give was not what Piper had expected.

"I can't believe you're doing this to me."

Piper turned from the Book and stared at him, their eyes locking for the first time in _hours_.

Breath momentarily stolen, she hardly noticed Leo's return until his footfalls against the oak-wood floor grabbed her attention.

"Sorry,"he said, walking over to the couch. "Wyatt thought it'd be fun to chuck Mr Tibbs across the room. Wasn't so funny when he couldn't get the thing back, though."

At the stunned silence that greeted his words, Leo felt suddenly uncomfortable.

Much to his surprise, neither his wife nor his son decided to reply to him.

"You can't believe I'm doing _what_ to you?" Piper whispered, her gaze piercing and strong, despite her quivering will.

Chris considered her face, shaking his head a fraction.

"Just when I think I can do this, _just when_ I think my mind's made up, you go and tip everything skywards."

Piper flinched.

Chris wasn't shouting. But she wished he was.

No, he was speaking. Normally.

His voice eerily, _freakily_ calm.

"It's not just the fact that you guys don't trust me. 'Cause … well, I _get_ that. Really, I do. I've messed up so many times it's no _wonder_ you don't. But … even when I'm offering you the chance to get rid of me at last, you go and play the guilt card and suddenly I'm made out to be the bad guy."

Piper was stunned.

"Who said anything about you being the bad guy?" she asked, stumped.

Chris shrugged.

"Hey, if the glove fits," he replied, shaking his head. "I've been called so many things during my life. 'Bad guy's probably one of the nicer things."

Leo gasped, but said nothing, still a little confused after walking into this half way through the conversation.

Piper, however, was glaring at Chris now.

"Chris, I'm not playing '_the guilt card_'. You said you want to go home and I'm just helping you out. What the Hell's with the sudden change of heart?"

Chris stared at her suspiciously.

"That card's two-faced. I can ask you the same thing. Why are you suddenly so ready to get rid of me?"

Piper's anger was mounting.

"Well, I don't see why it's such a big problem all of a sudden, Chris! You _wanted_ to leave a moment ago!"

Glaring, Chris remained silent, unable to think of a suitable come back to that.

'_Like mother like son,_' Leo mused sadly.

Sitting at the sidelines, watching with an air of apprehension, he was almost sure he should intervene before one of them said something they'd regret … but he didn't have a clue how best to do that.

Not when the two arguing were his wife and his youngest son.

_One_ of them would take his intrusion the wrong way.

Being so similar in their stubbornness and their attitudes, _one_ of them would think he'd sided with the other on purpose.

And Leo couldn't shove that on top, not when Chris was so close to the edge, right now.

So he simply sat there.

Silently watching.

Chris' eyes were riveted to his mother now, his heart burning beneath his chest.

The tears leaking beyond his notice, he shuddered, wrapping his arms around his chest and rubbing vigorously at his arms, trying to insert even the tiniest amount of heat into his frozen limbs.

"You _want_ me to leave."

It wasn't a question.

Piper blinked but held her gaze.

"No. No, I don't. And I can't believe I'm even _considering_ this … but I can't handle the thought that you could hate me even more for keeping you here against your wishes _on top_ of everything else I've done."

Silence.

Chris stared at her, gobsmacked.

"Wait … _what_?"

But Piper pressed on.

"You don't feel comfortable here. I get it. _Really_ I do," she added, smiling faintly before it vanished from existence as quickly as it had appeared. "And if being here isn't helping, if you can't stand to be around as after what we've done … well, I guess I'm just gonna have to deal with it."

Both Chris and Leo were staring at her as though she'd just sprouted another head.

"What do you mean '_what you've done_'?" Chris murmured, eyes wide as saucers. "You haven't done _anything_ wrong! How could you even _think_ that?"

"Look at the way we've treated you, Chris! What kind of mother can't even _recognise_ her own _son_ when she sees him?"

"Mom … you didn't _know_ because I didn't _tell you_! I didn't _want _you to know! What you guys did … I brought it all on myself, trust me. And besides, it made things easier in a way."

Piper frowned.

"How? How can being treated like that _ever_ help?" she asked of him, hardly daring to believe it. How could he stand there and dismiss everything they'd done? All the things they'd said?

He half-smiled, finally blinking and dropping his gaze.

"It helped because … well, I could pretend … just for a bit I could imagine you weren't … y'know, _you_."

Confused, Piper remained silent, mutely thankful for the squeeze of the shoulder that came a second later, as Leo finally came to her aid.

Standing side by side, they waited, hardly breathing.

"Why wouldn't you want me to be _me_, Chris?" she asked softly.

She was nervous.

She didn't know _why_, but she was feeling unbelievably nervous, now. _Surely_ Chris wasn't about to give something away …

He wouldn't give up on his 'Future Consequences' …

_Surely_ not … ?!

Chris sighed heavily, the tears leaking against his wishes.

His voice trembling, he fixed her with a piercing, heart-filled stare, the shivers becoming stronger.

With words so soft they were almost lost to the dulling howl of the diminishing winds, he murmured sadly, "I ... I don't want you to be you because … you're dead."

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

**Wow … (insert vigorous ear cleaning moment) … Did Chris **_**really**_** just give something away? It's the Apocalypse! Run, people!**

**Ahem …**

**So Leo's not the only one to know the truth, now. Wonder how Piper's gonna take this latest bombshell ... (Grins wickedly) **

**Thanksies to **peppymint, dgeo98, Soraya, aerohead1980, piperloveleoalways, xcharmedgrl4evax, DimpleBulbo, forestwife, criminally charmed, Pandora of Ithilien, Plutobaby494, Marcus1233, DejaVu86, lizardmomma, HPSmallCharm29, onesmartgoalie, Za Webmaster Authoress, charmedgrl4ever, Twilight in my Eyes, Fae Child19, History Buff 1990 **and **Secret Thought!

**Y'all rock! More up soon!**

**Oh, and just so's you know ...  
Reviews are shiny!**

**Hugs,  
xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**


	12. Chapter 12

**Heaven Help Us  
By  
xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**

**----------------------**

**Disclaimer:** I still, still, still, still, still, still, still, still, still, still, _still_ own nothing …  
(Sigh again)

**----------------------**

**Oh dear. Exams again. Not good. Still, here's an update, 'cause I needed de-stressing.**

**And to anyone else embarking on this endless quest for knowledge (i.e., those of us poor sods who've got exams for the next two weeks or so) good luck! **

**(Bolts for her Science exam shouting "No! I'm gonna be late! NOOOO!!!!")**

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

_**You don't know a thing about my sins,  
How the misery begins.  
You don't know,  
So I'm burning, I'm burning**_

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

'_I ... I don't want you to be you because … you're dead._'

'_You're dead._'

'_Dead …_'

The words were rampaging relentlessly through Piper's head as her gaze wavered.

Leo's grip on her shoulder had strengthened to the point where his nails were digging impossibly hard into her skin.

But she didn't mind.

The pain was distracting.

And just for a second, she could focus on the sting it created, instead of on the heart-stopping revelation that her youngest had just dropped about her shoulders like a ten tonne lead weight.

Balance faltering, waves of dizziness fighting their way into her system, she swayed slightly and stumbled, caught unawares.

The only thing to stop her from hitting the ground was her ex-husbands encouraging grip.

She stared around at him, her eyes wide and fearful.

But as she spotted his look of resigned concern, the truth hit her like a speeding train.

"You … y-you _knew_?" she whispered, horrified.

Leo nodded glumly.

"I found out when I went to get him," he murmured quietly, nodding at Chris who was resolutely avoiding his gaze.

"You _knew_ and you didn't _tell me_?" she demanded, tears leaking.

"I wanted to … _really_ I did, Piper. But I couldn't. You were so focussed on trying to help Chris that I just couldn't bring myself to say it."

Blinking away the stinging tears, she turned and gazed blankly at Chris, who was staring back at her, emotional eyes racked with fear, with pain, with sadness, with … was that _shame_? What did _he_ have to be ashamed about?

Her mouth dry, and her head pounding as the realisation hit full force, she slumped slightly against Leo, unconsciously gripping so hard to his offered hand that before long, Leo's knuckles were white.

Staring imploringly at her youngest, she couldn't suppress an intense shiver of misery.

Her mouth opened.

But no words would form on her tongue.

Chris shook his head sadly and turned away, staring out of the rain-washed window at the dying winds.

He was trembling form head to foot, the cold biting mercilessly into his skin.

But he forced himself to ignore it.

Hell, he'd ignored worse before. Living in the future where his big brother was the Ultimate Evil had been more than enough to secure his continuous struggle against the elements.

Shaking his head in dismay, he spoke again.

"Coming back here … and seeing you … seeing you alive and happy, in a stable relationship, with the support of your sisters, with Wyatt to look after … well, let's just say it took _a lot_ of self-motivation to step through that portal the first time."

He shrugged sadly, brushing at the threatening tears.

He _wasn't_ going to cry, damnit!

"I nearly didn't. I didn't think I'd be strong enough to handle it, not after what happened."

His breath hitched and his teary eyes glazed over slightly as he recalled the events of years prior.

"I didn't think I'd have the strength," he whispered again, watching as his mother's final breath was ripped thanklessly from her throat, fourteen-year-old Chris kneeling beside her while her blood soaked through his drenched jeans.

He half-laughed, the sound piercing as it flitted unnaturally around the Attic.

Piper shivered, but as he spoke again, her desire to run to him, to comfort him, was suddenly frozen.

"Can you believe that?" he giggled hysterically, a hand flying to his head. "_Me_! _I_ couldn't handle seeing you. I can take on the Source with no questions asked, and I'm willing to sacrifice my life for his cause, but when it comes to facing my dead mother, I've got _no_ chance!"

Both Leo and Piper watched with mounting horror as he swayed slightly, finally turning back to face them directly, eyes red but the tears no longer falling.

"Which is why," he went on, suddenly unbearably sober, "when I came back … when I saw you and realised you had absolutely no clue who I was … well, I thought it'd be best to just keep it that way."

Piper, tears of her own leaking beyond her notice, relinquished her grasp on Leo's ashen fingers and took a tentative step forward.

But her courage evaporated, and she stopped still in her tracks, intently listening.

"And then there was the mistrust," Chris went on, staring beyond them now, as though he couldn't actually see them. "And I thought … well, this'll make it easier … because you weren't who I didn't _want_ you to be … you weren't my Mother. You were younger, more excited, seeking out a 'normal' life for you and Leo and Wyatt … you had your sisters and you'd deal with them and their relationships and their careers, and Phoebe's new powers and … you just weren't Mom. You _looked_ like her … but you _weren't_ her … so everytime you said something or ignored me or went out of your way to avoid me … well, it made it so much easier for me to distinguish between you and her."

He stared at her guiltily, tears welling again.

"I could imagine that she wasn't you. You weren't the same person. And I dunno why but … having that … that barrier, that comforting knowledge that you weren't really my mother made the whole thing simpler. It was like I could pretend that I really _was_ a complete stranger. Just sink into routine, hunt for demons, save Wyatt and then get the Hell out of here before you figured it all out … well, that was the plan, at least."

He chuckled sadly.

"Worked out _real_ smooth, didn't it?"

His gaze seeking hers, he shook his head a fraction and rubbed at his frozen arms.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, eyes sliding closed and another single, solitary tear sliding a gentle path down his icy cheek.

"For wh-what?" she asked, voice cracking.

"I'm sorry for putting you through all this. Sorry for what happened with Wyatt and the Order. Sorry for the trouble I've caused. Sorry for Leo … Sorry I couldn't save you …"

His voice faint, he turned away and, shaking his head resolutely headed straight for the still open door.

"I'm sorry. I can't handle this. Any other time and I might have been alright but … not now, not after everything else that's happened."

But a hand had enclosed around his wrist before he could seek refuge in the darkness beyond the illuminated Attic.

He blinked back the tears and looked up, his heart breaking as he spotted the damaged but loving gaze Piper was sending him.

"It wasn't your fault," she said softly, tugging him to a halt.

He nodded vigorously.

"But it _was,_ though," he told her, hating her right now for trying to make him the innocent in all this. "_Everything_ was my fault … and that day … well, I paid dearly. I've been paying for it ever since."

Tugging him gently towards Aunt Pearl's couch, she spared a curt nod for Leo, who took the hint and hurried solemnly towards them, sitting down beside Piper and taking her hand, giving it a comforting squeeze.

Spotting the gesture, Chris smiled sadly.

"That's my fault, as well," he admitted, nodding emotionlessly at Piper's ringless finger.

Leo shook his head.

"It would have happened sooner or later," he said softly. "You just sped things up a bit, that's all. I was destined to become an Elder, so whether it happened in 2004 or in 2034, it would've happened eventually."

Chris half-shrugged.

"Still, it's screwed up my chances big time. Funny, the things you overlook when saving the world."

Piper stared at him, eyebrows raised in confusion.

"What? Why?"

He shrugged nonchalantly.

"Oh nothing …" and he fell silent, already furious with himself for admitting to Piper that she was no longer a part of his life. He was _not_ going to burden them on _top_ of everything with his 'I-haven't-been-conceived-yet-so-there'll-be-consequences' speech.

She didn't need it.

Neither did Leo.

And neither did he, come to think of it.

Piper shook her head in frustration but held her tongue, feeling now wasn't really the best time to start scolding him. Turning to Leo, she smiled at him gently and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Could you make us a cuppa?" she asked quietly, her eyes wide with unspoken words as she silently begged him to give them some time alone.

Nodding mutely, he spared her a warm smile and orbed away, the faint sounds of the boiling kettle spitting into life from two floors below.

Sighing, she turned to stare at Chris instead, her wet eyes alive with unconditional love. Gripping his hand she gave him a soft smile.

"You know … for the record … I wouldn't _really_ have let the Universe go to Hell if you left."

Chris half-smiled, shaking his head.

"Didn't think you would. Your morals wouldn't allow for such a break in the cosmic balance."

"Hey! You're not too old for a slap, you know!" she berated softly, whacking him on the arm lightly before her smile fell.

"So …" she paused, uncertain.

Chris glanced up, curious by his mother's unusual loss of words. She'd sent Leo packing … so what was she after that she didn't want her ex-husband to hear?

"So was I …" she hesitated, and Chris' puzzlement was fast growing into full-on concern. Waiting patiently, his breath hitched as she finally managed to speak her question.

"Was I … I mean … _before_ … was I a … a good mom?"

She stared at him shyly, her gaze half-troubled, half-hopeful.

And the first true smile she'd seen since … well, probably since he'd first returned to them illuminated his worn down features.

"The best," he whispered honestly. "Even Wyatt thinks so, though you wouldn't catch him admitting it in public."

Piper's smile of delight was quickly tarnished by pain.

"But if I was such a good mother, why did this have to happen in the first place? I'd _never_ do anything to show Wyatt that _that side_ is the right one! So why did he follow it? Why go against everything we've taught him?"

Chris shook his head sadly.

"Something happened a while back. He was a good kid. You'd see the occasional slip up but he was a teenager, just rebelling, y'know. Or at least, that's what I thought. That's what mom … _you_ thought, too. But I'm beginning to wonder if it was something deeper than that. I don't know how, and I don't know why, but evil got to him when he was around this age, which is why I came back. If I can just _stop_ whatever happened before it _does_ happen … well, I'll get my brother back. I'll get my _life_ back."

He shivered violently and fell silent, biting back a cough, and closed his eyes against the penetrating gaze of concern that was flying his way twice over from his mother's auburn orbs.

"You're cold," Piper observed softly, reaching out a hand to his forehead.

He shrugged her away and sighed.

"Freezing," he admitted, knowing he couldn't ignore her, not if he wanted to reach puberty.

Well, that is if he was ever even conceived in the first place …

"Come on, you can have Phoebe's room. I'll make a bed up for you. After all, she ain't using it. You should probably have a bath, and I can make you something to eat if you want."

Chris sent her a bemused smile.

"Mom … it's half three in the morning," he reminded her.

She shrugged.

"So?"

Chris smirked and held his tongue, shaking his head a little in disbelief.

Feeling guilty that he was imposing on them, and also half aware that he had a Demon to grill after being stabbed to death, literally, he was sorely tempted to orb out now, before she could initiate full mother-hen mode.

But the truth was, he really was _not_ in the mood for doing _anything_, at the moment.

So, perhaps for the first time in God knew how many years, Chris found himself nodding along to Piper's instructions, allowing himself to be looked after …

Just this once.

And he'd be back in the game tomorrow.

Well, that is … if he could ditch Piper for long enough to orb out of the Manor before she returned to nursing him like a fragile two year old …

He smiled at that thought, a sudden flashback to when he'd caught the flu. Being ill and taking two weeks off school had never been so much fun ...

But his smile fell as he realised that if he didn't fix this, then there'd be no chance of such a future happening for anybody else.

Following her silently from the room, he spared a glance to the window and the now clear skies outside, the odd droplet of rain sliding down the glass but not a splash of it falling from the sky.

The storm was over.

For _now_, at least.

But just before the door swung shut behind him, he couldn't help but wonder if that had only been the first wave.

The earthquake hadn't reached its peak yet, of that he was certain.

And he had a rather nasty feeling that when it _did_, the Sisters' trust in him would be sorely tested.

Fingers crossed he could keep himself in his mother's good books.

… …

But what if he couldn't?

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

**So how was that? Like or no like? I'd like to know! (Grins)  
**

**Bit shorter today, but I wanted to get in the Piper/Chris moment that was sorely overdue. Next up, we go after Zereph … may the Gods have mercy upon his soul … 'Cause he's gonna need it …**

**Thank you **Sparrow317, JayneyHunter, onesmartgoalie, Kitty-Witty-Kate, Secret Thought, criminally charmed, History Buff 1990, Pandora of Ithilien, charmedgrl4ever, dreamgirl93, Marcus1233, xcharmedgirl4evax, clois-liper-clarbby, dgeo98, aerohead1980, Fae Child19, Candy, QueenoftheFlyingMonkeys, Twilight in my Eyes **and **forestwife!

**Candy**: Um … it means awestruck, really. Just another way of saying, 'Oh my God!' really loudly and clapping a hand to your mouth. Really big amazement issues. Hope that helped! ;)

**Thanksies for reading, dudes! More up as soon as! You know what exams are like … (Sigh)**

**Hugs,  
xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**


	13. Chapter 13

**Heaven Help Us  
By  
xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**

**----------------------**

**Disclaimer:** I still, still, still, still, still, still, still, still, still, still, still, _still_ own nothing …

**----------------------**

**A thousand apologies! I've been in hospital … for nothing good … (Shudders)**

**Yeah, I know it's a lame excuse, but at least it's a valid one. Hospitals suck, not least of all because they don't have working computers.  
Sorry again! I'll try to be quicker, next time! Pinkie Promise!**

**OoO**

**And sorry if this isn't as good as my previous ones – I'm still recovering, and I haven't written for a long while. It's probably a little slow in comparison to some of the earlier chapters, but the action picks up next time.**

**OoO**

**And finally … I can't believe how **_**long**_** this is getting! I mean, what the Hell?! I started it thinkin' it'd be like, four chapters at most … and now we're on 13 (unlucky for some) and I can't even see the end in sight … and then look at all those shiny **_**reviews**_**! I mean … (faints).**

**So fatabulous, guys! You've no idea how much it means to me! Can't express my gratitude enough, so thanks ever so much!**

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

_**You don't know a thing about my sins,  
How the misery begins.  
You don't know,  
So I'm burning, I'm burning**_

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

Three O'clock.

Chris couldn't believe it.

For the first time in _years_, he'd slept in! _Three O'clock!_ Who in their _right minds_ could sleep in until mid-afternoon?!

This was _so_ not good.

Forcing himself into sluggish reality, rubbing at his eyes as he practically flew out of bed, tripping over the clothes he'd left out the previous night in his haste before plucking them into his arms, he hurried for the bathroom, eyes wide and mind alert as he tried to avoid a run-in with anyone.

He didn't have time to be molly-coddled, after all.

Showering and dressing in what had to have been record time, Chris emerged five minutes later and dashed straight upstairs without a second thought.

The sooner he got out of here, the less chance there'd be for one of the Sisters or Leo to try and stop him.

But even _he_ couldn't leave without doing his research first.

And there was _one_ Demon in particular who was mere minutes away from feeling his wrath.

Pay-back was _way_ overdue.

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

Piper dropped the bag of groceries onto the counter with a content sigh and wheeled Wyatt's stroller into the conservatory. Crouching in front of him, she smiled warmly, ruffling his hair fondly before pulling him free of the straps and setting him down into his playpen, eyes dancing with delight as he gurgled happily, gathering up a handful of building blocks and stacking them one on top of another in front of him.

"Now, you be good for two seconds, 'kay?" she said brightly, walking away. "Mommy's just gotta put the shopping away and then go and check on your wayward brother. If he's still in bed at _this_ hour, he's in for it."

Well, she mused, smiling as she set about unpacking the items she'd purchased, that wasn't exactly true.

She couldn't help but feel immensely relieved that Chris had _actually_ stuck it out this long. When she'd left for the store an hour prior, he was still dead to the world.

Which proved just how exhausted he really must have been.

Still, she'd accomplished the impossible, that morning – she'd broken through his defences if only for one night, managing to convince him to let his guard down for the first time since she'd first laid eyes upon him.

Or perhaps even _before_ that. She knew not when Chris had last had somebody to 'mother' him.

And she couldn't help but feel immensely proud of herself.

Fed and cleaned up, he'd submitted with ease, and sleep had claimed him the moment his head had hit his pillows. Piper's smile stretched as she mentally recalled just how adorable he'd looked, seemingly at peace for the first time in what had to have been a _long_ while.

Which is why it was with a heavy heart that she traipsed upstairs ten minutes later, a steaming mug in one hand and a bowl of Baxter's original in the other. Evil though she may have felt, waking him after finally managing to convince him to take a break, it was a necessity.

After all, he was _way_ too thin.

She'd have to fix that.

Not to mention give him one _Hell_ of a talking to once everything was over – in Piper's not so guarded opinion, it was nothing short of a miracle that he'd lasted this long, barely sleeping, hardly eating and taking off on God knew how many Demon hunts a day.

Well, he was her son, and he was damn well going to do as she said.

Starting right _now_.

Even if she had to force-feed him.

… …

Unfortunately, she realised, opening the door to Phoebe's bedroom a moment later and staring at the empty and hastily re-made bed in mild disbelief, she was going to have to _find_ him, first.

"Oh, you're in _big_ trouble, Mister," she murmured, fuming, as she placed mug and bowl down as one onto the dresser before stalking away, making straight for the stairs and shouting her frustration at the unresponsive ceiling. "No Demon hunts for a _month_! Let's see how you like _that_, Future Boy!"

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

Chris' orb trail vanished from sight and he winced as the tinkling sound echoed ominously around the dimly lit cave.

Dark, dank and torch-bracket-lit.

Demons really _did_ have no sense of originality whatsoever, he mused silently, shrinking into the shadows of the grimy wall and strengthening his grip on the tiny bottle in his hand.

'_Even a lick of paint would be an improvement. Just _once_ I'd like to visit a Demonic lair that _isn't_ insufferably unhygienic._'

Straining his ears against the constant drip drip of falling water from somewhere above his head, Chris scowled darkly as he heard the grating, piercing laughter of a group of Demons coming from the mouth of the cave's corridor behind him.

So the only way was onward, it seemed.

Of course, he'd _known_ that before he'd even arrived, but still, having his exits blocked wasn't exactly a very comforting omen. If this went wrong … _again_ … he wouldn't be getting out quite as easily as he had last time.

Although saying that, it hadn't _exactly_ been easy the first time around…

Shaking his head as his scowl deepened, he shrugged away his unease and crept cautiously on through the murky corridor, sliding along the walls and willing himself to make as little noise as was humanly possible.

The element of surprise was going to be _crucial_.

… …

Piper was going to kill him, of that he was certain.

Biting his lip, he shook his head again to clear it and increased his grip on the bottle held tightly within his grasp. Suppressing a shudder, he swallowed his anxieties and shuffled ever warily onwards, resolve set and heart racing.

'_Sorry, Mom,_' he thought calmly, pausing at the lip of the cave and staring out into the gloom of Zereph's quarters, eyes fixing on the prowling form pacing like a distressed lion around the outskirts of the cave.

But just as he was about to jump in at last, hand holding the vanquishing potion he'd prepared minutes prior raised in preparation, Zereph stopped in his tracks, his back to the makeshift 'doorway' but apparently intently focussed upon something, nevertheless.

And it didn't take Chris long to realise he'd been busted.

"So," Zereph called at last, raspy voice menacingly low but rich with a traceable delight, "it's true what they say 'bout the Halliwell's."

Chris raised an eyebrow in confusion, no longer bothering to pretend he wasn't there and stepping into open view instead.

Zereph wheeled around, a malicious smirk twisting his Demonic features, the hood of his cloak down and his white skin glinting evilly in the twilight, red eyes narrowed. With his clawed hands clasped behind his back, he clicked his fingers once, the sound reverberating around the cave like a knelling bell.

And Chris was suddenly cornered.

Glancing over his shoulder, he sighed heavily as at least eight Demons shimmered in, staring at him almost hungrily as they inched ever closer, forcing him well into the cave, sneering and hissing in anticipation.

'_So much for the element of surprise,_' he thought, his original plan well and truly useless, now. '_Ahh well, figures. I was stupid to think it'd be _that_ easy._'

Fixing a death-glare onto his face and dropping his hand, he stood his ground in the centre of the cave, surrounded on all sides but his gaze fixed solely on the being standing a few metres or so in front of him.

Zereph's malicious grin widened, and he ran a forked tongue over his deformed lips in eagerness, his words echoing ominously around the cavern, making Chris' blood run cold through his veins.

'Death' really _is_ nothin' to you guys, ain't it?"

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

Paige wandered absent-mindedly into the Attic, Wyatt bouncing happily on her hip and Phoebe stumbling somewhat drunkenly up the stairs after her.

Spotting the array of potions ingredients scattered across the small, wooden table in front of the window, she smirked knowingly, depositing her nephew into his playpen before sinking onto the couch, Phoebe leaning casually against the doorframe and running a hand through her hair.

"I take it Chris is feeling better?" she asked brightly, spotting the dark look Piper flashed her way and suppressing a snigger.

"Most definitely back to his old self," she admitted, more than a little annoyed as she flicked angrily through the Book, scowling her frustration and venting her anger out on the worn and unsuspecting pages.

But Phoebe caught her attention and she glanced up, frown softening a little.

"What's up with you?" she asked, surprised.

Phoebe shot her a half-smile and shrugged.

"Migraine," she said quietly, wincing. "Jet lag sucks."

Piper glanced at Paige, an eyebrow raised.

"I thought you orbed?" she said, confused.

Paige nodded, at a loss as she considered the middle sister, looking as stumped as Piper felt.

Phoebe just shrugged again, a scowl of her own deepening.

And Paige's smirk widened.

"Aww, has poor lickle Phoebe got an evil, nasty hangover?" she asked, mock-baby voice echoing irritatingly around the room.

Phoebe scowled at her, but remained tactfully silent.

And Paige snorted derisively.

"Jet lag my ass. You just had one too many bottles of extravagant house red last night with Jason."

Unfortunately, Phoebe was far from being in a joking mood, and consequentially stalked over to the couch herself, sinking heavily down onto it before whacking her youngest sister lightly on the arm.

Paige glared at her, but her defiance soon melted from existence as Phoebe's expression softened.

"Well … it was just nice to get a minute to ourselves, you know?" she admitted finally, shrugging. "With Jason off travelling the world on his daily business trips and me left behind learning how to make Paper Origami Sculptures, I find myself missing home more and more. So with it just being the two of us last night for the first time in _ages_ - and with me there reeling from all the action here last night with Chris and all … well, let's just say we probably got a _little _bit too carried away."

Paige grinned, drawing Phoebe in for a half-hug as she glanced up to see Piper shake her head and begin again her attack of their precious family heirloom.

"I hear ya," she said brightly, "take it where you can get it, sweetie. You only live once, after all."

"My sentiments exactly," Piper put in, glaring at her sisters as she raised her head for a second, "which is why we need to find my son before there's nothing _left_ to find. He, too, will only live once, though said life will more than likely be tragically cut short when I get my hands on him."

Paige restrained an eye-roll with immense difficulty.

"Piper, relax. Chris'll be fine. He can take care of himself, no problem!"

But Piper's scowl only darkened, her impatience vanquished in a heart-beat as her anxieties blossomed.

"So, what was last night all about, then?" she asked softly, fingers gliding absently over the page for a second as she was consumed by her thoughts.

But snapping herself out of it a second later, she returned to the assault with renewed vigour.

And Paige could only shrug, a small sigh escaping her lips as she dropped her hand from about Phoebe's shoulders.

"She's got a point," Phoebe conceded, fixing Paige with a pointed stare.

Paige raised a hand in surrender and nodded.

"Well, have you tried calling him?" she asked, trying to sound knowledgeable before blushing as Piper sent her a death-glare.

"What do _you_ think?" she asked sarcastically.

Then frowned, tongue between her teeth and a shiver running up her spine.

"Wow, dé ja vu or what?"

Paige raised an eyebrow, giving the Halliwell Matriarch a rather distinctive, 'come again?' look, but Piper merely rolled her eyes and turned away.

"Never mind," she murmured, shrugging. "He's not answering me, but that's not exactly surprising given where he's gone."

"The Underworld," Phoebe clarified, nodding slowly. "He's probably gone after Zereph."

Piper nodded too, hands no longer skimming through the book as her eyes were drawn to the abandoned potions table.

"At least he's gone fully prepared, this time," she said softly, anger evaporating as she stared at the slowly cooling concoction swirling sluggishly within the cauldron. "That's a relief, at least."

Paige nodded, expression one of casual concern.

"But," she drawled, dragging the word out as though testing it on her tongue. Glancing up, she half-smiled, "I reckon he could use a little backup, don't you?"

Piper smiled gratefully and nodded.

"Exactly what I was thinking," she admitted, collecting a handful of pages and skimming through them, letting them drop lazily from her fingertips as she searched faster.

Paige shot Phoebe a questioning glance, and grinned as Phoebe nodded in resignation, dragging herself lethargically to her feet and wandering over to the potions table.

Paige watched her, finally taking pity on her suffering sister as she turned away with a subtle shake of the head.

"You bottle up some more of what I'm sure is a kick-ass potion and I'll see if I can't help _you_ out," she said, orbing away before she'd barely finished her sentence.

Phoebe stared after her in surprise, but soon caught Piper's eye and hurriedly returned to bottling another batch of Chris' vanquishing potion – or at least, that's what they _hoped_ this stuff was.

As not one of them had a clue as to what it could be if it _wasn't_.

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

Six potion-filled bottles later, Paige orbed back in holding a glass of water in one hand and a couple of white tablets in the other.

"So much for helping me," Phoebe muttered, nevertheless accepting them with a thankful nod of her head. "You do realise it's gonna take like an hour for these to kick in, don't you?"

"Yep," Paige replied brightly, nodding her approval as Phoebe handed over two potion bottles before taking the tablets and downing the glass Paige had handed over. "Think of it as corporal punishment. Maybe next time you'll think twice about drinking so much."

Phoebe glared at her, but said nothing.

Instead, Piper spoke up again after minutes of silence, glancing nervously at Wyatt before slamming the book shut.

"This is pointless. I can't find the right page and I'm not in the mood for fighting with this thing, so we'll just have to take these potions and hope for the best."

She looked up in time to see Phoebe drop her glass down onto the table, licking her lips and gripping two potion bottles. Nodding her approval, Piper stepped away from the pedestal and sighed heavily.

"I'm gonna go and ring Sheila. I don't want to disturb Leo, not after yesterday's fiasco. The last thing he needs right now is for us to drag him down for baby-sitting duties."

Paige frowned, pocketing her own potions and absently handing over another two to Piper, who took them without question and pocketed them too.

"I thought Leo was going to focus more on you guys?" she asked, a little annoyed by his apparent insistence to remain a part of the 'Greater Good'.

"Well, he is," Piper said, not sounding exactly convinced herself, "but he can't just up and leave, can he? There's rules and things. He'll be back, I know it."

Phoebe and Paige shared identical looks of scepticism, but nodded their mutual agreement regardless.

If only to ease Piper's mind.

"But what do we do if someone needs healing? One of us or Chris? Surely Leo should be coming with us?"

Piper shrugged, unsure.

"He gave me his word that he'd be down like a shot the second we yell for him, so if there's a problem, we just orb back here and call him. He knows the truth, now. He won't ignore us."

An anxious silence fell, all three Sisters glancing nervously at the ceiling before sighing and turning away.

Piper swept from the room, picking Wyatt up on her way to the door before vanishing down the stairs with a murmured, "I'll just go and call Sheila, then."

Phoebe stared after her, a small grimace distorting her features a little as she held a hand to her pounding head.

"She's right," she said softly, trying to convince herself as much as Paige. "He'll come if we need him. And there's no point in worrying him any further, is there? He's got enough on his plate, what with just finding out about Chris, and bearing the guilt of almost losing him, and being the outcast in the clouds for abandoning them all last night to help out down here."

Paige shrugged.

"I guess," she replied slowly, nodding once before turning away. "But I'm more worried by the idea of the Elders keeping him away than by his refusal to come. We know he'd be here if he could, there's no doubt in my mind about that. But you heard what they were like yesterday."

Phoebe spared her an apprehensive smile.

"Well, we'll just have to hope for the best," she said simply, patting Paige on the arm before sinking down onto the sofa, awaiting Piper's return.

Paige nodded and bit her lip, glancing anxiously at her watch.

"I'd better orb Wyatt to Sheila's," she said finally, making for the door. "We don't want to be wasting time. God knows what Chris is up to right now. But if he _has_ gone after Zereph, then I reckon we need to work fast. Something doesn't feel right."

Phoebe nodded, having been thinking along the same lines, herself.

"Hurry up, then," she said softly, sighing as Piper called up to her youngest sister in conformation of their baby-sitter's acceptance.

Moments later, Piper was hurrying into the Attic, the tinkling sounds of Paige's orb trail echoing up from the entrance hall downstairs.

"All set?" she asked anxiously, shrugging into a jacket as she absently fingered the two potion bottles Paige had given her.

Phoebe nodded.

"All we need is our taxi," she said wryly, nodding as Paige orbed back in seconds later, a determined look on her face.

"'Kay," Piper murmured, looping an arm through one of Paige's while Phoebe jumped up and grabbed her other hand. "Let's get this over with."

And as one, the three Halliwell sisters vanished from sight in a flurry of blue and white lights.

**-----------------------------------------------------------**

**Thank you to **History Buff 1990, aerohead1980, Marcus1233, peppymint, lizardmomma, fairyofmusic, dgeo98, gostlcards, X.o.XLoveIsBlindX.o.X, clois-chlois-liper-chriper, criminally charmed, Za Webmaster Authoress, onesmartgoalie, Secret Thought, Fae Child19, xcharmedgirl4evax, charmedgrl4ever, crazyDFFgang, JennMel, HauntedPast, artsfan, robin, Summer Jasmine **and **DemonessLeader!

**Dudes! You're awesome! Y'all can have a cyber-cookie with your names on it! **

**AnyWho, thanks again! More up soon! I'm now officially on holiday (heh, like three weeks late), so I should be able to breeze few through at least the next couple of chapters. It all depends on my Muse. Fingers crossed I can keep her happy …**

**Hugs,  
xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx**


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